Disposing of disposables

My home made 100% cotton napkins. The ones in the fan are small, the larger ones are at the front.

I'm trying to do without as many "disposable" products as I can. These things have become so entrenched in the way we live our lives now that we see them as normal. They aren't. I looked up the meaning of the word "dispose" and it means: cast aside, chuck out, discard, fling, throw out, throw away, toss out" etc. The trouble with "disposables" is that when we cast them aside or chuck them out, most of the time that means they're in a landfill rubbish dump somewhere taking years to decompose. In the case of disposable nappies/diapers it is believed to take about 200 years. Of course, no one really knows as they haven't been around for 200 years for any to have decomposed completely. Maybe they don't decompose at all, maybe a future earth will be full of slowing rotting but ever present dirty nappies/diapers. Ugh!

There is a huge problem in Australia, and around the world, with marine life eating and being tangled in plastic ropes, bags and sheets. I have seen photos of turtles with plastic embedded in their shells and photos of dead dolphins, strangled with plastic. If you don't know there is a problem using plastic by now, you must be living in a world with no newspapers, TV or computers. Plastic kills.

Polystyrene is another catastrophe. "Each year in the United States (US), approximately “60 billion cups, 20 billion eating utensils and 25 billion plates”, all disposable, are used and sent to landfills and incinerators." Source

There is a big problem with the carbon emissions caused by the manufacture, transport and disposal of paper products. Products like tissues, paper towels and plates, toilet paper and napkins. These products tend to decompose fairly rapidly, if they aren't coated with plastic, but they are still a concern because of the carbon emissions they cause and the forests that are cut down to create them.

So here at my little homestead, I'm trying to get rid of as many "disposables" as I can. I've already given up plastic shopping bags and have my own shopping totes, I've made little net bags for small items, we've given up paper towels and use old terry cloths and newspaper instead and I always try to buy products with the least amount of packaging. A couple of years ago we gave up paper napkins, but over that time we started using the convenient box of tissues sitting in the kitchen to wipe our mouths while eating. Now that's stopped. I've made a few simple cotton napkins that are suitable for everyday use and that's what we're using instead of tissues. I would love to give up tissues completely, but I can't bear to wash handkerchiefs, but if we can reduce our usage of tissues significantly, I'll be happy enough. We used too many of them as napkins, so I'm pleased we've stopped doing that.

This little basket of homemade napkins now sits on my kitchen bench.

We take drinks with us when we go out so we never have to buy plastic bottles of drink or tea in a polystyrene cup. We've given up buying "disposable" dishcloths as we have our wonderful handmade dishcloths, and I'd love to be able to give up toilet paper but when I spoke with H about this, he gave me THE look. I might leave that one for a while. LOL Strangely I have less of a problem with what comes out of a bottom than with what comes put of a nose. But maybe that's TMI. : - O

If I had babies now I would never put them in disposable nappies/diapers, and if I wasn't post-menopausal, I'd be using a Diva cup or home made pads. I'd like to present some information about reusable nappies/diapers and homemade pads, and I am hoping to get a friend to write about these things so I can post some good info for you.

Have you conducted "disposables" audit in your home? Have you given up using "disposables"? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments box.

Further reading about disposing of rubbish

Further reading about the first sanitary pads

Getting started on cloth nappies/diapers

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Simple change

A good way of building an emergency fund, or to save for other things, is to have a change jar. “Change” can be coins or notes. I usually classify everything in the coin section of my purse as change, even if it’s folded notes. If I come home with change in my purse, it usually goes into my change jar.

When you keep a change jar, never take from it, don’t count it and keep it out of sight. Only count it when you are going to transfer the money into a bank account or to pay off debt. By not counting you give yourself a nice surprise when you do count it. It’s more of a moveable mystery if you don’t know how much you have. Life should have some secrets, let this be one of them.

You can also add to your jar by adding unexpected gifts or savings. For instance, if you have gift money given to you, add it, give up the coffee you buy on the way to work and add that extra $20 a week, give up smoking and add the money you would have spent on cigarettes. If cigarettes are around $14 and you smoke a packet a day, you'll save over $5000 in a year by giving up and saving that money.

Every time your change jar is full, sit down with a smile on your face and count the money. If you have lots of gold coins or notes, you might easily have $300. Whatever it is, take that money and add it to the bank account you use to pay your debts, be that your mortgage or your credit cards. If you are debt-free, add it to your savings account or use it for a holiday.

When H and I went on our holiday recently, the only spending money we took with us was the money from the change jar. It was just under $300 and we each had half. Both of us came home with $100. We did everything we wanted to do, we took Kathleen out to dinner and we enjoyed ourselves. We didn't buy junk, or anything we didn't need. That's the thing about saving, you have to have it firmly in your head that you are saving, and go for it.

For those of you earning a good weekly wage, you might think it's trivial to even talk about such small amounts. But living frugally, whether by choice or by need, is all about small steps. Most people can't save $1000 without starting with those first few dollars.

So think about starting a change jar. If you give up a few things and save all your change, you'll be able to pay off your mortgage faster or take the family on a holiday without it going on the credit card.

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Free activites

Keeping the kids active and occupied doesn't have to cost a lot. There are plenty of activities and hobbies they can do at home that are low cost, fun and don't involve a screen. Taking the kids on an outing can also be a lot of fun, and doesn't have to cost much at all. Put on your frugal hat when it comes to entertainment for yourself and the children. Spending a lot on movies, eating out and travelling around will slowly drain your savings. There isn't much value in a day's outing that you have to work a full day to pay for. There are other ways around it.

Discover your local library, museum, science centre and the long coastline of beaches that Australia is understandably famous for. Look for local free concerts or events in the park. Sometimes local councils sponsor these events and will advertise them in the local paper. Some enlightened councils are now offering free gardening and backyard sustainability courses. Although not available all through the year, these wonderful things can be enjoyed and will not cost you anything except the cost of getting there. If you can't find information on free local activities in your newspaper, go online and google "free local activities [your town]", or phone your local council and ask what's available.

The local paper, magazines and books are available free at any library. They often have DVDs, CD, puzzles and audio cassettes. All you have to do to access this vast free resource is to become a member.

If you live in a city, take advantage of all those taxpayer-funded facilities like the museum, art gallery, science centre and botanical gardens. They will provide hours of enlightening entertainment for yourself and your family. Take a picnic to the closest beach, find some shade and enjoy a day with the family. If you’re in the country and close to a river, you can enjoy a riverside picnic and swimming with the family. You might go for a bush walk and a bike ride. If you’re close to a national park or a naturally beautiful area, there will often be walking trails to follow.

Wherever you are, if you look around your community you should find ways to entertain yourself without it costing too much. Be creative, team up with other people you know and go for it. Remember, not everything of value has an entry fee.

Here are some links to free activities:

Sydney
Sydney
Brisbane
Toowoomba
Canberra
Melbourne
Moreland
Adelaide
Perth

United States
US cities and towns

UK

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Dishcloths on parade - updated

Here are photos of some of the dishcloths swapped during our first swap. If you have a photo of your dishcloths you'd like to share, send it to me and I'll post it with these.

These little beauties are by Polly, and were sent to Jewels. Polly included some of her home made soap.

These cloths were made by Jewels and sent to Polly. Jewels also included a beautiful hand made card.

These lovely cloths were made by Robin and sent to Maggie in NZ. Love those autumn colours.

Now we have the cloth sent to Susan by Lenny. Lenny also sent some fudge. mmmm

And the following photo is the beautiful blue package of cloth and soap that Susan sent to Lenny.

Finally the swap between Carla and myself. Carla sent me these two cloths, plus another that's currently in the wash. I really love them, Carla.

And here is what I sent Carla. A cloth and a copy of last month's Grass Roots.

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Catch up day

I live a very fortunate life. My husband and I have been hard workers all our lives and we are now enjoying the fruits of that hard work. We don’t have a lot of money, and don’t need a lot, but we live our days as we choose and generally squeeze as much as we can from each day. One of the things I really love about my life now is that I can give something back to the community. I choose to do voluntary work for two days at my local Neighbourhood Centre where we look after the needs of the homeless and disadvantaged. I love that job. It allows me contact with people I wouldn’t normally meet, it gives me real satisfaction to help the people who come in, I write, teach, organise, hug, make cups of tea, give tissues, answer the phone, attend meetings and talk. Yep, talking is one of the requirements of my job, and I make sure I do a lot of it. LOL

So when I come home after my two days work, I’m really tired. It’s physically and mentally challenging work. Monday and Tuesday nights I sleep like a log. But when I get up on Wednesday morning I feel joyous and re-energized by my time spent at that job. I don’t know why I’m lucky enough to have this life.

Today is my catch up day. On Wednesday I do the things not done on Monday and Tuesday so I’ve already done a bit of gardening, I’ve made some vegetable soup for our main meal today and I’ll bake some hot bread for us to eat with it. I also have to check my sauerkraut, tidy up the bedroom and make the bed, sweep the floors and the verandahs. Later I’ll do some sewing. It will be a good day, a day to enjoy time at home, play with the dogs, collect eggs, take photos, experience everything I can, maybe learn something and be thankful that H and I are healthy and breathing.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that I watched a small portion of a brilliant concert on ABC2 last evening. I was washing up and H called me to come watch something – it was Keith Richards and Willie Nelson singing together, after them was Merle Haggard and Jerry Lee Lewis. It was a wonderful thing to see. Did anyone else watch this? I’d like to know what the concert was.

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Down to Earth readers' guide to saving electricity + added bonus

Turn off appliances at the wall. Reorganise your appliances to make this as easy as possible.
Turn off all chargers with a black box on them at the wall, every time you finish charging. Those things really suck up the power, even when they're not charging but still "on".
When buying new appliances, always buy the best energy rating you can afford.
Sweep the floor instead of vacuuming.
Wash up by hand instead of using the dishwasher.
Use a programmable thermostat for your furnace. Set the thermostat five degrees lower/higher (depending on the season) at night.
Use a table-top cooker, like a Nesco (not a crock pot).
Turn the monitor off when you leave the computer.
Exchange old electricity globes with compact fluoros.
Keep light usage to a minimum. Only do full loads of washing.

Don't let rice cooker sit on warm after rice is cooked.
Go to bed earlier – this saves on a lot of things like lights, computer, TV, stereo, extra cups of tea.
Use your mobile phone alarm rather than an electric alarm clock.
Ring your local electricity supply company and get all the information you can on your usage, tariffs and how you can save for your particular situation.
If you have a 3 in 1 light fitting in the bathroom that contains a light, exhaust fan and heater, take the heat globe out.
Watch less TV.
Use a solar camping lamp in the evenings when you don't need strong light.
Try to do without your small appliances like coffee maker, sandwich maker etc.
Do less ironing. Shake clothes when hanging them on the line, hang shirts and dresses on a hanger to dry, give up the idea that you have to be absolutely creaseless.
Use a wall clock instead of relying on your oven or microwave clock. Turn these ovens off when not in use.
“Snuggle up" instead of turning on the heater, get a rug and snuggle with your loved ones on the lounge.
Dress warmer in winter instead of turning on the heat.
In winter, keep lap quilts and rugs on the sofa to encourage the family to use them instead of the heater.
No clothes dryer – hang your clothes outside to dry. Turn on hot water heater for 1 hour a day. Key wind clocks in all rooms. No air-conditioner, no electric heater. Just a wood burning stove in the winter and fans in the summer.
If possible, put a timer on your hot water system.
Change to solar hot water.
Install skylights in dark rooms.
Close the door when you’re heating or cooling a room.
In very cold climates, install double glazed windows and insulated blinds.
If it’s cold outside, hang window quilts. Read about them here:

http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/winquilt.htm
If you’re using a dishwasher, shut the dishwasher off and open the door after it's finished washing and let the items air dry.

Fact sheet on CF lights:

http://www.conscientiousshopper.com.au/conscientioushouse/4523353276
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

Info on mercury in CF lights:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/what_about_merc.php

REMINDER:
When recycling your compact fluoro globes, to take them to the recycle station, just like you would your old batteries, mercury thermometer and old style fluoro tubes.

Below is a list of energy saving hints from this source There are lots of good tips here.

Refrigerator/Freezer
A typical home uses 600-1200 kiloWatt-hours per year for refrigeration and freezing. To become more energy efficient with refrigeration in your home, follow these tips:
Keep your refrigerator at 37°- 40° F (2° - 4° C) and your freezer at 5°F (-15° C).
Keep your refrigerator filled to capacity, but don't overcrowd to the point where doors cannot be closed or air cannot circulate.
Vacuum the condenser coils (underneath or behind the unit) every three months or so.
Check the condition of door gaskets by placing a paper sheet against the frame and closing the door. If the sheet can be pulled out with a very gentle tug, the door should be adjusted or the gasket replaced.
Do not put uncovered liquids in the refrigerator. The liquids give off vapors that add to the compressor workload.
Allow hot food to cool off before putting it in the refrigerator.
Plan ahead and remove all ingredients for each meal at one time.
Try switching off the power-saver switch, if your refrigerator has one. If only a small amount of condensation appears, save energy and leave the switch off.

Range/Oven
A typical home uses 200-700 kiloWatt-hours per year with its range/oven. To become more energy efficient with your range/oven, follow these tips:
Only use pots and pans with flat bottoms on the stove.
Include more stews, stir-frys, and other single-dish meals in your menus.
Develop the habit of "lids-on" cooking to permit lower temperature settings.
Keep reflector pans beneath stovetop heating elements bright and clean.
Carefully measure water used for cooking to avoid having to heat more than is needed.
Begin cooking on highest heat until liquid begins to boil. Then lower the heat control settings and allow food to simmer until fully cooked.
Cook as much of the meal in the oven at one time as possible. Variations of 25°F still produce good results and save energy.
Rearrange oven shelves before turning your oven on - and don't peek at food in the oven! Every time you open the oven door, 25°-50°F (-3° - 10° C) is lost.
There is no need to preheat the oven for broiling or roasting.
When preheating an oven for baking, time the preheat period carefully. Five to eight minutes should be sufficient.
Use your microwave oven whenever possible, as it draws less than half the power of its conventional oven counterpart and cooks for a much shorter amount of time.
Use the self-cleaning cycle only for major cleaning jobs. Start the cycle right after cooking while the oven is still hot, or wait until late in the evening when electricity usage is low.

Dishwasher
Wash only full loads of dishes - but do not overload dishwasher.
Scrape food off dishes and rinse them with cold water before placing them in the dishwasher.
Soak or pre-wash only in the cases of burned-on or dried-on foods.
Don't use the "rinse hold" feature on your dishwasher when you only have a few soiled dishes.
Clothes Washers
Follow detergent instructions carefully. Adding too much detergent actually hampers effective washing action and may require more energy in the form of extra rinses.
Set the washing machine temperature to cold or warm and the rinse temperature to cold as often as possible.
Wash only full loads of clothing- but do not overload machine.
Sort laundry and schedule washes so that a complete job can be done with a few cycles of the machine carrying its full capacity, rather than a greater number of cycles with light loads.

Clothes Dryers
A typical home uses 360-1400 kiloWatt-hours per year with the clothes dryer. To become more energy efficient with your laundry, follow these tips:
Hang your laundry outside when weather permits.
Clean the lint filter thoroughly after each use.
Dry towels and heavy cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight fabrics.
Avoid over-drying. This not only wastes energy, but harms the fabric as well.

Hot Water
One of the biggest energy users in your home, next to heating and cooling systems, is your hot water system. A typical home uses 1000-4000 kiloWatt-hours per year with its water heater, including dishwashing and laundry water. To become more energy efficient with your water heater, follow these tips:
Reduce your water heating bill by 10 percent by lowering the water heater temperature from 140°F to 120F° (60° - 40° C). (Keep the temperature at 140°F (60°C) if you use a dishwasher without a temperature booster.)
Once a year, drain a bucket of water of the bottom of the water heater tank. This gets rid of sediment, which can waste energy by "blocking" the water in the tank from the heating element.
Locate water heaters as close to the points of hot water usage as possible. The longer the supply pipe, the more heat is lost.
Insulate your hot water supply pipes to reduce heat loss. Hardware stores sell pipe insulation kits.
Consider buying a water heater insulation kit, which reduces the amount of heat lost through the walls of the tank.
Repair any leaky faucets promptly.
Use sink stoppers instead of letting water run while shaving and washing dishes.
Take showers instead of baths.
Set the washing machine temperature to cold or warm and the rinse temperature to cold as often as possible.
Wash only full loads of clothing and dishes - but do not overload machines.
Scrape food off dishes and rinse them with cold water before placing them in the dishwasher.

Lighting
A typical home uses 400-1000 kiloWatt-hours per year in lighting. To become more energy efficient with lights throughout your home, follow these tips:
Clean your light fixtures regularly.
Turn off lights when leaving a room.
Provide task lighting over desks, tool benches, etc., so that activities can be carried on without illuminating entire rooms.
If possible, put lamps in corners of rooms, where they can reflect light from two wall surfaces instead of one.
Use compact fluorescent bulbs in fixtures that are on for more than two hours a day. Compact fluorescent bulbs will given an incandescent bulb's warm, soft light, while using up to 75 percent less electricity. They also last about 10 times longer. Typically, a 23-watt compact fluorescent bulb can replace a 90- or 100-watt incandescent bulb.
Use dimmable bulbs when possible.
Install photoelectric controls or timers to make sure that outdoor lighting is turned off during the day.

Heating
Set the thermostat as low as comfort permits. Each degree over 68°F (20° C) can add 3 percent to the amount of energy needed for heating.
In the heating season, water vapors from bathing and cooking are beneficial because they help humidify the home. Use kitchen and bath exhaust fans sparingly in the winter to keep as much heat as possible inside your house.
In the winter, the air is normally dry inside your house, which is a disadvantage because people typically require a higher temperature to be comfortable than they would in a humid environment. Therefore, efficient humidifiers are a good investment for energy conservation.
Locate the heating thermostat on an inside wall and away from windows and doors. Cold drafts will cause the thermostat to keep the system running even when the rest of the house is warm enough.
Lubricate pump and blower bearings regularly in accordance with manufacturers' recommendations to limit the amount of energy lost to friction and to extend equipment life as well.
Close heating vents and radiator valves in unused rooms. Make sure that drapes, plants, or furniture do not block registers for supply or return air.

Air-Conditioning
A typical home uses 250-1000 kiloWatt-hours per year for air conditioning in one room. To become more energy efficient with air conditioning throughout your home, follow these tips:
Set your thermostat to 78° F (24° C), or as high as comfort permits. When the weather is mild, turn off the AC and open the windows.
Close your blinds and curtains during the hottest part of the day.
Close cooling vents in unused rooms and keep doors to unused rooms closed.
Check and clean or replace air filters every month.
Clean the outside condenser coil once a year.
Reduce your usage by 10-20 percent by caulking and weather-stripping your doors and windows.
Insulate your house.
Schedule periodic maintenance of cooling equipment by a licensed service representative.
Attics must be ventilated to relieve heat buildup caused by the sun. If necessary, improve attic airflow by adding or enlarging vents.

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Saving electricity

I went back to work yesterday, and had a meeting following work, so I didn't get a chance to come back at all yesterday. It was a long day. I'm also in a rush this morning as I have a lot of things to do before I go back to work, and I overslept an hour. So I'm going to rely of you all to add to the comments here which will be part of the post on how to save electricity. I'd like to know how everyone does it. Please tell us your strategies as you might be doing something we haven't thought about that will save us energy and money. When all the comments are in, I'll compile a master list that will be posted during the week for us all to share.

We have done all the usual things here like:

• Exchange all old electricity globes with compact fluros.
• Turn off appliances at the wall. Reorganise your appliances to make this as easy as possible.
• Turn off all those chargers with a black box on them at the wall, every time you finish charging. Those things really suck up the power, even when they're not charging but still "on".
• When buying new appliances, always buy the best energy rating you can afford.
• Sweep the floor instead of vacuuming, wash up by hand instead of using the dishwasher.

I found this excellent site about electricity in general, which has a lot of hints and explanations. It's an American site but much of the information relates to most of us.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/

As soon as you finish reading this, I want you all to turn your computers to standby mode. Read about it here: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html

Don't forget to continue your monitoring of your meter until you get to understand how you are using your energy. Read it the same time each day, record your readings and what appliances you used on that day.

So now it's over to you. Please add your electricity saving tips. Please be generous and share what you know with us.

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Reading your electricity meter

Isn't it frustrating when you receive your electricity bill, you think it's too high but you can't really remember what you did to increase it. When I started cutting back and living on less, one of the things I did was to get a better understanding of our electricity consumption by reading the meter. Doing this helped us go from an average three monthly bill of around $400 to our current bill which is always under $200, and usually around $140.

Although there are a couple of different types of meters, most of them are the five dial ones like mine pictured here. Disregard the dial at the bottom with the red pointer.

The reading on my meter, when I took this photo last evening, was 16863 kiloWatt-hours (kWh).

When reading a meter and the pointer is between two figures, your reading is the lower number, as the pointer hasn't yet progressed passed the next figure. You can see this clearly on my first dial. The pointer is between the 1 and 2, but hasn't passed 2, so the reading on that dial is 1.

It gets trickier when the pointer is sitting ON a figure, like it is on my second dial. That pointer is sitting on 7. When this happens, look to your next dial - dial three in this case - and see where that pointer is, it will be somewhere between 8 and 0. Here my dial is coming up to 9, indicating it hasn't yet passed 0 and therefore the previous dial is still on 6, even though it looks like it's on 7, it hasn't passed it yet.

Okay, so far we've read my dial to be 16. Dial three hasn't yet moved onto 9, so that dial reads 8. Dial 4 is between 6 and 7, so that reading is 6. The last dial hasn't yet fully moved to 4, so that reading is 3. Write your reading down in a notebook.

You'll also notice a spinning flat wheel below your dials. That indicates how much electricity you're currently using. If it's spinning fast, you're using a lot, if it's slow, you're not using much at all.

I know it sounds complicated, but just remember your reading is always the lower of the two when the pointer is between two figures. When it's sitting on a figure, check the next dial and if it isn't yet on 0, then your reading on the previous dial is the lower number. You'll only have to read the meter a couple of times for it to become clear to you. It sounds complicated but in practise, it's not.

Remember, just reading the meter won't save you money. You have to act on the information you have to lower your bill. When you first start readings, write down what electrical appliances you're using that day. If you read your meter every day, you probably notice spikes in usage when you use the washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, heater or air conditioner. Often seeing how much something spikes your meter, makes you think of ways to lower your usage.

If you have teenagers or younger children, encourage them to do the readings with you. It will make them think about electricity in a different way. Show them how much you pay for each kWh. We don't think much about our usage because a kiloWatt hour doesn't mean anything to us. That is, until you start your readings, then you can't fail to know.

Make sure you do your reading at the same time each day. After you get a good idea of your usage via daily readings and recording your figures, then monitor your usage weekly. If you see a spike over the week, reassess what you're doing in the home with electricity and see if you can bring it down again. Doing this will allow you to reduce your electricity consumption, and your bill, how much you get it down is in your hands.

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Making sauerkraut from scratch

Sauerkraut is made with just two ingredients - cabbage and salt, with a bit of time thrown in for good measure.

I used four small sugarloaf cabbages and four tablespoons of Olssons organic cooking salt. This is pure Australian salt. Do not use table salt, the salt must be pure, with none of the additives normally found in table salt. The process of fermentation should take about 3 - 4 weeks, but it will depend on the temperature here in the house during that time.

Ideally the temperature should be around 23 - 24 degrees C (75F), if it gets a bit hotter it will take less time but the sauerkraut won't taste as good. If it is colder, it will take longer.

I used a stone crock to make my sauerkraut, you could also use a new plastic bucket or similar large container. Wash the container thoroughly and pour boiling water over the interior. Dry with a clean tea towel.

METHOD
Wash the cabbages thoroughly, removing all dirt, outer leaves and damaged pieces of cabbage.

Cut into quarters. Remove the core in each piece.

Place cabbage quarters on a clean tea towel, cut side down, to drain. Remove as much water as possible.

When the cabbage is fairly dry, start shredding it as finely as you can. I started using my mandolin but I almost cut my finger on it (again) so I used my Chinese chopper.

When you've shredded a small amount of cabbage, start adding it to your container.

When you have a layer of cabbage, sprinkle over some salt and rub it into the cabbage with your clean hands. This gets the salt into the cabbage and starts the process of osmosis that removes the water from the cabbage and forms the brine.

Keep shredding and adding your cabbage in layers, and for each layer, add salt, rub it in and push it firmly into the container.

Continue doing this until all the cabbage has been shredded and salted.

You will notice above how there is a lot of fluid in with the cabbage. This is the brine the cabbage and salt makes. No water has been added, that is all the water that has come from the cabbage. There should be enough brine to cover the cabbage completely as this helps the process of fermentation.

Place piece of clean cotton cloth over the cabbage and then a small plate on top of the cloth. Get a heavy plastic bag, or two freezer bags (one inside the other) fill the bag with water and push it into the container over the plate. This will weigh the cabbage down so it will remain in the brine. Then cover the opening of the container with plastic wrap and place a towel over it.

Store it in a coolish (23C) area for a few weeks.

The formation of gas bubbles indicates fermentation is taking place.

Every day you must check the sauerkraut. When scrum starts to form, remove the cotton cloth and plate and wash them thoroughly with soap and water. Rinse well and place in a small dish. Pour about a litre of boiling water on the cloth and plate to scald them. When cool enough to handle, wring out the cloth and replace it over the cabbage - along with the plate, the water filled plastic bag, the plastic wrap and the towel. If the water filled bag is covered with scum, either replace it with a clean bag or wash it thoroughly before replacing it.

After about 3 - 4 weeks of checking it every day or second day, the fermentation should be complete. You can tell this has happened when the cabbage stops bubbling. Then you can either place it in containers to be stored in the fridge or process it in a water bath (Fowlers Vacola or canner). If it's stored in the fridge, you'll need to eat it within a month.

To process in a water bath, for storing long term in the cupboard, heat the sauerkraut, place into your jars, leaving half an inch head space, bring up to 92C and boil for 15 minutes for small jars or 20 minutes for large jars.

More reading.

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It will be a busy place at this homestead today. I'm going back to my voluntary job tomorrow after having two weeks off and I still have a few things to do before my holiday is over. First job will be to make sauerkraut from the cabbages pictured above and two others, they all still have to be picked and will be pickled absolutely fresh from the garden. I'll write about making sauerkraut, with photos, tomorrow.

After the big cabbage session, we'll go to our local garden centre to get some fine netting for our peach and nectarine trees. It's fruit fly season here, so the netting and Eco-Naturalure bait will help us deal with this horrible pest.

This afternoon, H and I will be in the garden. We have things to plant and the garden needs a good clean up after all that rain. We ended up with 423mm (16.5 inches) H took a reading that he didn't tell me about, so it was more what I originally thought.

In addition to the above, I'm baking bread and an apple spice cake and ironing. I hope you all enjoy your weekend. Thank you for stopping by. Take a minute to make a comment, even if you've never done so before. : )

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The true cost of food - more added

A few years ago, when I started thinking about the true cost of food, I started to buy as much as I could in, and from, my own local area. It's very productive land here. We have local milk and cheese producers, lots of organic vegetable growers, honey men, organic beef and lamb growers and plenty of tropical and subtropical fruit. Some of my friends think it's strange that even though I live a frugal life, we spend more than we need to for milk and cheese. Often the local fruit and vegetables are cheaper than the non-local supermarket produce, but I don't mind paying more for local foods. It helps build my community.

When you think about it, a $2 lettuce doesn't really cost $2. It costs a lot more than that. If you calculate in the environmental cost of the transport that brings food hundreds or thousands of kilometres, add to that the damage done by pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertilisers and top that off with eroded soils, the excess water used to grow that lettuce and the nutrient runoff into waterways, and you start to get an understanding of the true cost of that lettuce, and food in general. It's not just the item, it's the system of production and transport that needs to be calculated in.

When you go shopping, take a basket or cloth tote bags with you so you're not relying on plastic bags to bring your food home . Make some small net bags for bagging up smaller items like tomatoes, potatoes, apples and carrots so, again, you don't have to rely on plastic. Don't buy things that have a lot of packaging, and make sure the packaging you do buy, is suitable for recycling.

The best solution to this, if it's possible, is to grow as much of your own fresh food as possible. You can also keep your own chickens for eggs. Not only is this a lovely and simple thing to do, but you'll be rewarded with the best and healthiest eggs possible. If you can't grow some of your own food, then buy local, and ask your supplier where the produce comes from. Let them know you want to buy local food. Buy as little as possible from the supermarket, you'll get cheaper and fresher fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat from the green grocer and butcher. Often buying from the smaller local stores is cheaper, but if does cost a bit more, it's the true cost.

Further reading about shopping locally:

General tips
Australia
United States
San Francisco
UK and here

Graphic from allposters.com

And in addition, after Elizabeth's comment, here are the net bags I use. Just cut out some large and small bags of the size you think you'll use. My large bags are 30cm x 15 cm and the small bags about half that size. Double stitch the seams and openings so they don't rip apart when you're using them repeatedly. You can put a drawstring through - I used crossgrain ribbon here but you can use anything - string, cord or rubber bands. Often they don't need closing. I place all my bags in my cane basket and they usually don't spill out.

Using net allows the storekeeper to see what's in the bag without opening it - they like that, but you can use any strong and lightweight fabric.

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We're with Telstra

I'm running out of time for another post today so here is an update on the photo dilemma. We've signed up with Telstra on their Homeline Plus account. Local calls 17.5 cents, capped STD calls and line rental is $29.95, but H gets an $11 per month discount because he's on the old age pension. So we're getting it for $18.95 a month. We're keeping our broadband with optus and the mobile with Virgin. We also get a bonus cordless Telstra phone.

I found a really good deal for Virgin wireless broadband + home phone for $60 and you can get rid of your landline. But when I checked to see if we had coverage, we didn't. : ( They say it will come within the year, so I'll change then. Check these links out:

http://www.virginbroadband.com.au/

Magazine article about virgin broadband.

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Dishcloth swap

The following first list partners have received their swaps.
Robin and Maggie
Carla and RhondaJean
Polly and Jewels
Kirsty and Elizabeth
Briget and Rhonda (kimmysmum)
Michelle and Jenny

Susan and Lenny

Kim and Dot

Busywoman and Chris

Sue is waiting for Deborah's parcel to arrive, everyone else has now received their swap.

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What a milestone!

Unbelievable! There have been over 20,000 visitors here since I started blogging in mid May. The counter now sits on 20,140. That's incredible.

I want to thank you all for supporting my blog. I do try to share as much as I can because I believe it is my duty, as an older woman, to pass on what I know. That always happened in days gone by. It's one of the many things we've forgotten about.

I believe this blog has been successful because people want to know things that aren't common now. They also look for inspiration and the knowledge that kindred spirits share their values.

This blog is a joint effort. It is the collective wisdom of many people. You only have to read the comments to know that there is a lot of sharing going on here, sharing that is encouraged and celebrated.

So thank you everyone. Thank you for coming, thank you for reading and thank you for being a part of what is happening here. If I could, I would happily go around and hug each one of you. Here's to the next 20,000 visits.

(I will be back soon with another post.)

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Warm hands

I've just spent a delightful 15 minutes washing up. My dishwasher, that I usually use every second day, is out of service as the hose came off the other night and flooded the kitchen. By the time I knew what had happened, H had already cleaned it all up. We phoned our insurance company and they sent around two "Disaster Recovery" experts. LOL They've left two air blowers for us to run over the weekend to dry out own floating timber floor and cupboards. Although H reckons we'll end up having to replace part of the floor and the kickboards on the cupboards. It's a big job.

In the meantime, I'm doing all washing up by hand. Polly, and a few of the other girls, know I love washing up. It slows me right down and focuses me in time and place. It has been pouring rain for the past three days - we had 35mm, then 45mm, then 67mm, this morning the rain gauge overflowed at 100mm and is already up to 50mm again. And it's cold. So I had a very comfortable and tender feeling standing there at my sink, up to my wrists in warm soapy water, looking out the window to a flooded backyard. The greyness of the rainy day made the lemons on our backyard tree stand out like golden candles on a dark and stormy night. But it's warm in here and I'm bundled up with a thick woollen jumper, long skirt and my lambswool slippers. I might look a bit strange, but I feel cosy.

I've washed a quilt and it is drying slowly on the back verandah. Hettie, our cat, is curled up in a padded basket, sound asleep. The dogs are asleep on their inside beds. But outside, it's flooding. Here is the creek in our back yard. It's gone from a trickle to this.

H found this little bird dead on our verandah. : (

All our spare containers are full of rain water and our two tanks are overflowing. I think we could have filled them both four times over, but it's nice to hear and see the rain after such a long and difficult drought. We just heard on the local news that people are being evacuated over at Noosa and the local dam is overflowing.

This is what I can see when I look out my kitchen window. The pigeon peas are bent almost to the ground and I'd be surprised if they survive this drenching. But here inside it's comfy, H is making coffee and I'm looking forward to washing up again after tea with my hands in the warm soapy water again.

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Electricity audit

From next Monday I'll be auditing my own electricity meter to see what my usage is. I do this a few times during the year and it gives me a good idea what uses a lot of power and how I can cut back on the electricity I use.

I'd like everyone to do this along with me. Are you able to access your electricity meter to read it every day?

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Phone bills

Let me say first that I do NOT like paying too much for anything I use. When it comes to bank fees and phone costs, that feeling is doubled.

Our Optus bill arrived yesterday. This is never a problem as the way we've set up our budget, we always have enough money in the bank to pay each bill as they arrive. I gave up just paying the bill without reading it a long time ago, but when I read through this bill, our line rental charges had been increased. Line rental used to cost us $34.54, now it is $50. and just for good measure: " from 1 October 2007, bill payments made with a credit, debit or charge card will incur a payment processing fee of 1% for residential and small and medium business customers." grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I started doing some research.

Just a few details, this optus bill of $106.74 was broken down like this:
Line rental 26 July - 18 Aug - $38.71
Line rental 19 Aug - 18 Sept - $50.00
Which came to: $88.71

National calls x 5 = $3.44
Calls to mobiles x 7 = $4.89
Local calls x 17 = $3.06
Calls to 1300 x 2 = 50 cents

Less discount = $3.56

Plus GST = $9.70

TOTAL $106.74

So for $11.89 in call costs, we had a bill for $106.74, in which the $34 line rental cost had been increased by roughly one third. One one of the charges was retrospective! This was the line rental increase which started on July 26, without our knowledge.

We are also paying Optus $39.95 for 12 GB of broadband usage. We have a Virgin mobile for which we are charged around $5 a month, but our last invoice was for 50 cents. LOL ! We have an account where we only pay for what we use. As you can see, we don't use our phones much anymore. When we started to simplify we cut it right back and use either Skype or emails instead. We thought of getting a VOIP phone but 10 minutes on that uses up approximately 1 Mb and the quality isn't always good, so we decided against it.

First up I phoned Optus to complain about the rising costs, the retrospective payment and told them we were thinking of leaving them and could we renegotiate a new deal. NO, they couldn't.

I looked into a few options but we've decided to go with Telstra. This is their deal:

Home phone - we'll probably go with their Homeline completed service which costs $26.95 a month, local calls are 20 cents each and STD calls are capped at $2 from 7pm - 12mn. We also get $25 worth of free calls to our own mobile. There is a bonus of a text message enabled cordless twin phone if we stay for 12 months on this plan. The phones comes when you sign up, if you leave before the 12 months, you have to repay the price of the phone - $150.

I'm not sure yet what we'll do with the broadband and mobile. If Telstra can offer a good enough deal, we'll transfer them over too.

I'd be interested to know from the Australian readers if you know of any good deals going and what the service is like on your own service. I have until 9 September to decide what to do and change over.

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Staying motivated

This is my stash of dishcloths that I usually have on my kitchen window sill. The one in use now, next to the container, and the two on top right are the cloths Carla sent me.

When I first started on this path towards a more simple life it was difficult to stay as motivated as I wanted, and needed, to be. There came a point though, when my own life provided the motivation because I could see the results of what I was doing. Somehow it all fell into place and instead of just undertaking new simple living projects, one thing lead to another and a genuine lifestyle was born. I’m not troubled by lack of motivation now but I do know that motivation is one of the most difficult things to maintain, not just in living this way but in many things.

So just how do you stay motivated?

I think the key to motivation is to find someone or something – like a book or a movie or a blog ; ), that inspires you. Seeing someone doing what you want to do, or reading about it, generally ignites a spark that keeps a flame burning for a while. If you keep that inspiration going your flame will burn longer each time. So find someone close to you that you can talk to about your lifestyle changes, if you have no one close, email me, I’ll talk to you about your changes. But keep at it, don’t give up if things get tough or you feel like it’s taking too long to achieve your dreams. Never, ever give up.

It’s also a good strategy to keep in mind why you want to change. What will you get out of it? How will it make your life better? Imagine yourself how you want to be in your simple life and keep that image in your mind, and answer those two questions for yourself. Having end results squarely in view will help keep you on track.

I want every person who comes here to read this blog to go away motivated and inspired enough to make the changes necessary to live a deliberate life. I want you to feel energised enough to believe you can do whatever you want to do. I want the collective experience here to seep into your brain so that it informs what you do and what you dream for yourself. Simple livings isn’t just about changing ourselves and making adjustments to our own lives, it’s also about helping our neighbours, and I hope I can do that from a distance.

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Dishcloth swap

I received my swap parcel from Carla when I returned from our trip. In it were three beautiful cloths - one the same colour as our new yellow walls, some cloth patterns and a lovely homemade card with photos! The card was hand written, another bonus. I love hand writing and appreciate it when others take the time to hand write something they send me. Thank you Carla.

I used the first of the cloths last night and I have to say it's superior to the cloths I make. The cotton you used Carla, seems to be more absorbent than what we have here. You said in your email that you're a loose knitter. I like that, I think it makes a better cloth. My knitting is quite tight and I'm going to loosen it up a lot for my next cloth. I always seem to have one on the go lately. Carla, can you let me (and everyone else) know what brand of yarn you use? I'll look out for some on ebay.

The deadline for sending the cloths was last Friday so I hope they were all sent. If anyone hasn't been able to get theirs in the post yet, just drop me an email at rhondahetzel @ gmail . com <- take out the spaces. I should mention too that I'm in the process of changing my email from yahoo to gmail, so please send to gmail from now on. Thank you. : )

If you've received your cloth parcel, please let us all know by commenting. It might be a nice idea to photograph our cloths too. If you have a photo of what you received, please send it to me and when I have all the photos I'll put them all in a post for everyone to see.

I'll be back later with another post. : )

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Where have all the kind people gone?

This is a rant that I need to get off my chest. It not specifically to do with simple living, although I do think it's part of it. You could easily not read what is coming, if you're feeling a bit fragile, please close this window now and return tomorrow. I'll be back to normal by then as I'll feel like I've been heard. LOL

I believe one of the most important things I was taught, and in turn taught my own children, was good manners. It's made my life easier as I'm sure you are accepted by others when you respect them and their property and show courtesy and graciousness when you're with other people. Things have changed. I know this but I've failed to comment on it before - neither here nor in my own life.

When we were away, I noticed that people aren't as polite as they should be, and the lack of courtesy and good manners shone out like a beacon. On two occasions, H was the only person to help a very old lady with a walking stick to get down from the train onto the platform, and again help a man with a wheelchair who was walking on the stumps of two amputated legs. Both these people were standing on the other side of a queue to get off the train and the queue we were in just all filed on out - not one of them stopped and let these people go ahead, let alone offer any form of assistance. H stepped up, stopped the queue and brought the lady forward, took her walking stick and gave it to me as the lady asked for H to go before her and help her down with both hands. Naturally he complied with her wishes. The man with the wheelchair was in a similar situation - he was waiting for the queue on the other side to stop, so he could manoeuvre his wheel chair onto the platform and alight. H stopped the queue again and asked what help this man wanted. He asked H to put the wheelchair on the platform and he could do the rest.

What really made me angry was that not one person in the queue filing off the train thought to help - they all filed past without thinking they might need to offer help. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE! Where are the manners we were all taught? What happened to helping the old and frail? We do not have to be living simply to know that we must help others all through our lives but it seems that unless we've slowed down enough to notice, these people will be left, abandoned by the very people who should help them.

It's not good enough to say they didn't notice. I don't believe it. On my blog here there is a stitchery sampler I stitched a few years ago. I think a couple of the sayings on it should be tattooed to the foreheads of everyone on that train. GIVE MORE, EXPECT LESS, SHOW RESPECT. There are a lot of people saying that there is a lack of respect shown by children nowadays but how can children show respect when it isn't modeled for them by their parents. Children learn what they see - respect, generosity, kindness and willingness to help need to be part of our lives. Sadly it looks like these qualities are a thing of the past for many modern Australians.

We will soon return to our regularly scheduled program.

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Get the most out of each day

It is is helpful to think about your week before it happens. I noticed that Jenny likes to organise herself on Monday mornings so that after she thinks about her week, she's ready for what is ahead. I organise myself on Tuesday afternoons because I work on Monday and Tuesday so by Tuesday afternoon I have a pretty good idea what needs doing in the coming five days. At work, I have a book and write everything I need to know in it. I put the date at the top of the page and all my important things are written there. In this book I also have personal page, so that while I'm at work and also when I'm at home, if I think of anything that needs to be done the following week, it's written on this page to be dealt with when I organise myself on Tuesday afternoons. Then, about an hour before I finish work, I write a report in our work book about what happened and what needs to happen later in the week. After that report, I write up my own list for the coming week from what I've written on my personal page. As I drive home I think about that list and how I'll spend the coming five days. It doesn't take much time but it helps prepare me for what's ahead.

I think having a list makes it a bit easier and it often stops doubling up on things as you can plan your trips out to include everything you need, instead of making several trips for just one thing. If you work outside the home most days then this sort of organisation would be even more important.

Once you have yourself organised with your list you'll have an idea of what you'll be doing each day. I get the most out of my days if I do my heavy chores in the morning when I'm fresh, and that leaves the afternoons for writing, sewing, gardening or relaxing. Don't be afraid to organise yourself however it suits you, even though others might think it's a bit odd. Simple living is all about customising your own life to suit you so that along with getting your work done, you also find as much pleasure and enjoyment as you can in your day. I'm currently changing our meal times so that we eat our main meal at lunchtime and have a sandwich or light snack in the evening. I don't care that this is uncommon in Australia, this suits us at this stage of our lives, so that's what we're doing.

Thinking about how you live, getting the best from yourself, organising each day, finding pleasure in the ordinary things you do, being open to whatever your day brings, is all part of living simply. It is being mindful of how you spend your hours so they are truly lived and not lost through multitasking, boredom or being too busy to be aware of what you're doing. Try to make a conscious effort to slow down, even when you're at work. When you can, take time for yourself, even if that's just making a good cup of coffee, or sitting outside to enjoy the fresh air. Those breaks allow you recover a bit and help you remain focused for what's ahead. Do whatever you do to the best of your ability so that at the end of each day instead of being thankful you got through it, you feel pleased with what you achieved.

Now I have a challenge for you. I challenge you to organise your day tomorrow, no matter what you are doing, to be as productive and pleasurable as you can make it. I wish you the best and hope you enjoy your day. If you have time, let me know what you did. You can either leave a comment or send and email to rhondahetzel @ gmail . com - take out the spaces in that address.

This is my plan for today.

• We have storm force winds and rain forecast today so I'm going to reorganise my undercover clothes line. It's a bit too high for me at the moment, so I'll ask H to help me lower it. I want to make it a permanent feature on the back verandah where I have plenty of room to hang clothes when it's raining, so I never have to use the dryer. I'm going to tidy up out there as I go and make the area as work friendly and inviting as I can.
• Make bread and a cake.
• Do several loads of washing. I might do two today and two tomorrow.
• Rearrange my pot plants and move some to my washing line area.
• Wash up and tidy the kitchen - pick some flowers for my window sill.
• After lunch, I'll be writing.

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The grass looks greener

It's so good to be back home again and now that I've slept, I'm feeling refreshed and motivated. Although I took my iPod, knitting and a book, those long hours on the train afforded me time to reflect on my life and how we live. I have come home with the certainty that living as we do has real meaning and is important, not just for H and I, but also for our sons, our friends and the people we know. I want to continue to simplify as much as we can, to grow our own food and to show as many people as we can that this lifestyle is worthwhile and meaningful.

I'm going to rearrange my routines in the house so that I can still do what I need to do here, but also have ample time for the blog, the website and my ebook. I hope that via these media I'll be able to reach enough people with relevant information for them to change their lives too. I'll continue to offer community education and help at the neighbourhood centre I volunteer at, and hope that I might help influence people there to stop spending and start simplifying. I feel like the first stone that's been thrown in the pond and I want the circles of influence and restraint to stretch as far as possible.

A simple life is one that is worth living and it's worth the sacrifices made in the living of it. When I looked at H and I out there in the great unknown, we happily took it all in without the need to spend cash or to flex our credit card muscles. We looked around without the need to buy, we remained true to our simple values and we enjoyed each day as it came. We found happiness and fulfillment away from the commercial world and we came home, both of us, feeling we've got the full measure of our time away.

And now that we're back, the grass looks greener, the air seems sweeter and the garden feels more fertile than before. We are where we are meant to be. Let's all move forward together towards a simple life. Let's help each other however we can, let's motivate and facilitate and walk this path less travelled to share the abundance of the future together.

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Coming home

This is H (on the left) on the Mackay railway station where we stopped for 30 minutes on the way through.

The view from my window at Bowen, where I was thinking of Deborah and enjoying the wonderful variety of mangoes, tomatoes and small crops.

It was good to get out, really. I loved the train which mostly whooshed us past backyards and little towns, but also left us in the night sitting like ducks in a line ready to be picked off by any unseen fool with a grudge and a rifle. We slept fairly well on the train when you consider we were locked in a compartment with 38 other people we didn't know and the only thing we had in common was that we all bought a ticket to ride. My feet were swollen from sitting too long on the trip back. HAHA! I sound like a demented paranoid who thinks only the worst possible thing will happen. We did enjoy ourselves.

We had a lovely time with Kathleen. I loved seeing her really happy and proudly showing us her home. I loved that although K's home is new and modern, it's slap bang in the middle of a really old suburb and her next door neighbours have lived there for over 50 years. The old man neighbour sits for long periods stripping copper wire to sell, and we could hear the trains rolling by just like you can here. There are old trees there and a brilliant 50 year old Bowen mango tree in full blossom right in K's backyard. Even in all that newness, Kathleen's home sits comfortably alongside the old homes in an old suburb.

We went out a couple of times to eat, so we saw people who answer their mobile phones and use credit cards, unlike me. There were lots of tourists wandering around in the warm tropical weather with bare arms and wispy dresses and when we sat at the restaurant pictured in my previous post, we loved seeing a fat smiling baby draped in a bright red pashmina that flew out in the breeze like a happiness beacon. That baby will be remembered for a long time, not only for her jolly smile and silly giggle but also for the brightness of her shawl that seemed so unusual, yet perfect.

I had morning tea with a really special friend - Susan. Susan and I used to be neighbours in a tiny isolated town; she also used to work for me when I was editing our town paper. Over the years, and over too many glasses of wine and cups of good coffee, we've mined the depths of a profound friendship and discovered by doing that just what is was we really wanted from our own lives. Friends are the best sounding boards. About 15 years ago, Susan was the first person I discussed simple living with, and although neither of us knew it by that name then, I know those feeble first sentences ended with me being where I am now. We both talked about that too, about me saying way back then, how you could change the way you felt about taking a shower. That, my friends, was my first simple living discussion - ever. So I was very happy to see her and to know that although we live a vast distance apart, our friendship remains strong and significant. It was a pleasure to sit with her once again, overlooking her rainforest garden, drinking tea and having a truly meaningful conversation.

So now we are home and I feel right again. When I'm out there with all of you I feel a bit out of place and strange. Coming home feels right and I'm where I should be. I've cuddled the dogs, I've eaten a dozen snow peas straight from the bush and fed the chooks. I looked at the washing, but didn't do any, I've wandered around the garden and had a little sleep - IN MY OWN BED. Boy, does that feel good. I doubt you have to go away to appreciate what you have but it always accentuates the importance of my home to me. Going away was a wonderful thing and we enjoyed our friends and the travelling, but coming back home is the real joy. And to have all of you waiting for us, and all those emails, well, I am one lucky woman.

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Toot toot!

I've included the map above for the international readers. We are starting just north of Brisbane, half way up the east coast, and travelling to Townsville, which is going up towards the pointy bit.

The big day has arrived. I feel like I'm about to embark on an around the world voyage on the QE11 instead of a simple and leisurely trip up the coast on a train. The excitement is due to us not having been away on a holiday for a long time. It's been years since we just packed up and took off. The anticipation of it is lovely too. Looking forward to doing nothing but enjoying our time with friends is doubling the pleasure we'll get from this little holiday.

I have a full day ahead of me with packing, tidying up, one load of washing, some ironing, making lists for Shane, charging various batteries and my iPod. I have a lot of podcasts ready to download - everything from Phillip Adams on Late Night Live and the Science Show to a few other radio programs I never have time to listen to. I also have to test the aquaponics water, water the gardens and pot plants, make some chocolate muffins for Shane and prepare some knitting to take with me.

Thank you all for your good wishes. I fully intend to enjoy every moment of this trip. I'm looking forward to being on the train, watching backyards fly past our window, stopping at little railway stations up the coast, seeing little peeks of the grand Pacific Ocean as we snake out way up north and finally being greeted by Kathleen when we reach our destination. Life's good!

(I'll take lots of photos.)

We'll be back next Monday. : )

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Awards

OK, I have to do somethng about these awards before I go away. I really don't like leaving things undone, and although it might look like I didn't care about the awards when they were given, I do appreciate it when anyone gives me anything. So to everyone who gave me an award, it wasn't disinterest, just lack of time.

Nice Matters Award

I received this award from Shropshire Girl and it was started by Bella-Enchanted. Bella describes the award: "This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people, good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

Thank you Shropshire Girl. I award the following five bloggers with this award:

Lisa at Altered Cutlery

Kris at Garden Variety

Robin at simple aussie

Rosehip

Jewels at eyes of wonder

The Power of Smooze Awards

Mike at Pink Reviews started this award. You can read about it here: http://shopautodotcaseo.tripod.com/blogspot/2007/07/power-of-schmooze-awards.html

I was award my smoozer badge by Angie at children in the corn Thanks Angie!

My smoozer awards go to:

Mrs Pivec at Golightly Place

Suse at Pea Soup

Ali at Our Patch

The internationally renowned Frugal Subversive Award

This was started by, umm, me. LOL So I'm quite chuffed to be given the award. I am giving my award to bloggers who turn their backs on consumerism to live frugally in a creative and authentic way. These bloggers have made me think in innovative ways about my own life and how I can make a difference making, reusing, and just saying "no" to mindless spending.

I've been awarded this twice - once by Simply Authentic whose blog is here and once by the lovely Lightening whose blog is here.

My awards go to:

fiveandtwo

tinyhappy

I just discovered this blog and I'm giving another FS award to brandy at Where Lillies Bloom. Check out her blog, it's very interesting.

Congratulations everyone.

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In praise of the Thermos flask

Apart from buying lunch a few months ago when we travelled away for a friend's funeral, I haven't bought tea, coffee or water to drink while I've been out for years. The reason? Well, you know the frugal word will be in there somewhere, but it's also because I realised it was a habit of convenience and now that habit is broken. The lunch we bought a few months ago also made me realise that now, many shops are serving their drinks in disposable cups, with disposable spoons, sugar and milk in single serve containers, oh, and while you're about it, take a single use napkin. What a waste!

It is so easy to get out of the habit of buying drinks while you're away from home. I must tell you I have a bit of a thing about people in shops preparing drinks (or food) for me. I watched a girl serve a milk drink at a cafe a few years ago, and when she spilt some, she licked it off her fingers! =: O Anyhow, you break the buying habit by having good flasks that will keep your drinks really hot, and you take your favourite drink from home - be that good organic coffee or tea.

When I started work at the Neighbourhood Centre I had to start packing food and drink to eat while I was there. I already had a one litre Thermos flask for the black organic tea I like to drink, but I found that over summer, it's also very good for taking lemon cordial with lots of ice. My good friend Kathleen bought me a great little lunch box a few months ago, one that has a little freezable ice block as well as some small containers that all fit together in one box. It's great for taking nuts, salad, leftovers, cut up fruit, or anything that my heart desires. I like taking a good lunch to work, because I usually share it with whoever is in the office and often the person I share with has not had home made food for a long time. Even a homemade sandwich is a real treat. You can see the post I wrote about that here.

So it probably won't surprise you to know that last week I bought another Thermos, this one holds 1.8 litres. It was bought mainly for our trip on the train, so we'll have enough tea with us for the entire trip, but it will also be used when we travel away in the car, or any time we'll be away from home for the day. Having enough tea for the two of us for a full day is great, and I wonder why I hadn't thought to buy a larger Thermos flask well before this.

In the week since I bought the flask, it's been earning its keep by keeping tea hot for us during the day. We usually drink tea at breakfast, morning tea, lunch time, occasionally for afternoon tea and sometimes for dinner. I've been filling the flask up in the morning after I make our breakfast tea and it's there hot and ready for us whenever we want another cup. It holds seven cups, so there's plenty to keep us going during the day. The great thing about this is that it saves time and it saves electricity as the hot water is only heated once.

When we go on our trip tomorrow, I'll fill the small flask with hot chocolate as we leave at 8pm and we can drink that after we've settled in on the train, and we'll have the large flask full of tea, that will keep us going the entire 17 hour trip. We'll also have a couple of bottles of water filled at our filtered tap at home. Along with our apple cinnamon muffins, Lindt chocolate and sharp cheese and home made pickles sandwiches, we'll be eating like kings as we speed our way north at 160 kms an hour. Who said you miss out when you eat frugally? pfffffffffft

After much thought, yesterday I started work on my simple living ebook. I'm pretty excited about it too as I've thought of a few things that will make it really useful and interesting. I wonder if you can help me with something, and I'd like to get as many opinions as I can on this - like everyone who reads this, including all the lurkers. : ) If you bought the ebook, do you think you'd print it out and put it in a folder, would you just print out the pages with instructions on them, would you read the entire thing on your computer? Or if you have any ideas about use, please let me know them. It makes a difference as to how I do the layout. Thanks your your help.

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Stitchery patterns

This second post for the day is for our stitchers. Here are some more of my stitchery patterns. They are free to download.

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Small steps simplicity

I've had a number of emails this past month from readers who asked about significant changes - the grand gestures of life - and how their move to a simple life will have to wait until the large change falls into place. While there is no right or wrong way to look at simplifying your life, I think that waiting for the big changes might complicate lives rather than simplify them.

You can start living simply right at this moment if you choose to. It will take no change in your circumstances, no change in location, no more money, nor less of it, no joint decision with your partner or change in employment. Small steps are the way to go. Do tiny things, little gestures that make a small difference. Small steps are easy and you will be more inclined to do a small thing rather than wait for the major ones. And when you look back on them, those small steps make all the difference.

So just what is a small step - it is anything that makes you smile, makes you feel good, makes you feel that you've done the right thing, such as ...

Put a small bunch of flowers in a cup or glass - it doesn't have to be fancy, just a little bit of nature brought inside for your pleasure.

Talk to your next door neighbour.

Phone your sister, a friend, your mum or dad and say whatever is in your heart.

Declutter your cutlery drawer.

Enjoy what's around you.

Take your old magazines to the doctors surgery.

Make your husband's favourite meal for dinner tonight and tell him it's because you appreciate him.

Take the dog for a walk.

Smile.

Start a change jar.

Make yourself a cup of your favourite tea or coffee and sit down to enjoy it.

Write a real letter to your best friend.

Make bread, soap or laundry liquid.

Look critically at your values and what you think is important to you and your family. Don't be afraid to reinvent parts of your life that need changing.

Plant some seeds.

Breathe in really deep and think to yourself: 'this feels really good'.

Write up a budget.

Change your idea of success. If you have the view that success means living in a big house, driving an expensive car and living the high life, reassess that. When you live a simple life, old symbols will be replaced by innovative ones and a shiny new car will just symbolise petrol consumption and too many dollars spent on transport.

So you can see that starting your simple journey need not be a grand statement. It's more than likely going to be small, easy to do steps. There are many things that are very difficult in this life, starting to simplify is not one of them. All it takes is your decision to start.

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I can't believe it

This blog passed the 15000 visitors mark today. We're now on 15044. Wow! It's really incredible to me that so many people have visited since I start blogging in May. I hope the blog tempts you to move towards a simpler life and provides some of the information you seek. I know you all keep me on my toes and I enjoy your comments and emails very much. If you have any suggestions, or would like me to write about anything in particular, just drop me a line. And thanks to all of you for reading.

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Growing your own food

Nothing is better than crunching on snow peas while you work in the winter garden.

Growing your own food, or even some of it, is an important part of simple living. It gives you a good supply of fresh, organic food, it saves you money, it provides valuable exercise and it helps reconnect you with the earth. As a society we've moved away from viewing the earth as the source of our food. We've become reliant on whatever is presented for sale at the supermarket and while it's appealing to have that convenience, those supermarket vegetables do not contain the nutrients that will be ever present in your own back yard produce.

Not everyone can grow, or will want to grow, a vegetable garden but for those of you who do, you’ll find it to be a great way to unite with nature and the seasons. If you have some space that will be suitable for growing food, I encourage you to set out on a journey of discovery, abundant harvests, and fully flavoured natural food. If you live in your own home a vegetable garden and a few fruit trees is a wonderful investment in your future health and will enable you to reduce the amount you spend on fresh food. If you live in rented accommodation, growing herbs, vegetables and fruit in containers is an activity that will provide a source of cheap organic food that can be a rewarding and enlightening pastime.

Planted up yesterday - four Richmond Green Apple cucumbers. These are a delicious cucumber that used to be very popular in Australia in the 1950s, sadly it's hardly grown at all now. I think it's got a better taste than the Lebanese cucs.

Organic growing is back to basics gardening the old fashioned way. If you decide to grow organically, the food you produce will be healthy with no synthetic chemicals or poisons added, and it will be fresh. I often wonder how old those supermarket vegetables are and where they’re from, but something tells me I don’t want to know the answer. One thing is certain, the fresher the food when you eat it, freeze it or preserve it, the better it is for you.

What is better than fresh English spinach with a few new potatoes, all freshly picked and served with a little butter, salt and pepper.

I kept chickens and dabbled in vegetable production long before I worked consciously towards my simple life. We had our first chickens when our sons were very young and I don't remember a time when I wasn't growing something. I don’t know how I’d get on now without my vegetable garden and chooks. At the moment, our garden supplies about eighty percent of our fresh food. We are working towards year round food production but this is the aspect of food gardening that I've found the most difficult to work out - the continual supply of vegetables and fruit. We'll get there one day.

WHAT IS THE FIRST SIMPLE STEP TO BACKYARD VEGIES?
Work out what you are capable of growing. If you have a small backyard or a unit, you’ll be looking to smaller crops, vegetables that will grow well in containers, sprouting and mushrooms. If you have a reasonable sized backyard with a sunny area for a vegie patch, you could plant almost anything that is suited to your climate. So, work out what you like to eat and grow the vegetables that are expensive to buy or the ones that are best fresh – like corn, lettuce, celery and potatoes.

A garden is a great place to recycle many commonly discarded items like egg cartons, milk bottles and newspapers. Here you can see the recycled reinforcing steel we found which mades an idea trellis for cucumbers.

THE PATCH – STARTING A NEW GARDEN
Go out into the yard and check where the sun rises. You will need a sunny position with full sun if you live south of Brisbane, but if you’re in a sub-tropical or tropical area, you’ll need some afternoon shade. Vegetables need about eight hours of full sun to grow to maturity. The further north you live, the greater the need for shade in the afternoon.

You also need to locate the patch close to a hose or a tap so you can water the garden when it doesn’t rain. If you have a water tank, your vegetables will benefit from the rainwater, so make sure the tank hose can reach the vegetable garden. If you don't have a tank, look into what rebates you're offered in your part of the country and take advantage of them. It is quite an easy exercise to harvest the rain from your roof to be used later on your vegetables and fruit. It is the ultimate in recycling.

Instead of repeating the very good advice of a follow blogger, I'll refer you on to scarecrow's garden. Scarecrow has an excellent section on her blog on how to start your vegetable garden - Food gardening for beginners, which you'll find here.

If you have any specific questions, please email me and I'd be happy to help.

CONTAINER VEGETABLES
You can grow a wide range of vegetables in containers. Try to pick up some polystyrene boxes from the greengrocer or supermarket. You could also use plastic garbage containers or buckets, as well as conventional plant pots. Make sure whatever you use has adequate drainage holes, if they don’t, poke or drill some in. Fill the container with good quality potting mix, if you have compost, use about a third compost to two thirds potting mix. Don’t be tempted to save money by using garden soil as it won’t drain properly and your vegetables won’t grow.

I was given the seeds for these pigeon peas by Elizabeth Fekonia over at the permaculture garden at Yandina. It's a fine garden Elizabeth and her volunteers have going over there. If you have a chance, drop in for a look. I'm growing these pigeon peas for soup - they are the lentils you buy as split peas.

SEEDS

When you think about it, a seed is an amazing thing. Given the right conditions, it contains everything necessary to grow into whatever species it happens to be. It’s a dried up hard packet of potential life. How good is that! Usually, the most thrifty way to grow vegetables is to grow from seeds. The most frugal seeds are those you save from last year’s harvest or swap with someone in your neighbourhood. You could also swap seeds online. There are a couple of Australian online seed swap sites, this is one I am a member of. You have to join, but it’s free and there are many other resources on this site that will help you in your quest for simple living. http://www.aussieslivingsimply.com.au/news.php

To get yourself started, buy some organic vegetable seeds. You can buy these seeds from:
http://www.greenharvest.com.au/
http://www.edenseeds.com.au/content/default.asp
http://www.selectorganic.com.au/content/default.asp
Or, you might find some at your local hardware store or plant nursery. Make sure the seeds you buy are open pollinated varieties of vegetables or herbs, and they should be fresh (check the use by date). Here are two excellent online resources with photos and information about heirloom open pollinated tomatoes:
http://www.reimerseeds.com/heirloom-tomato_798.aspx
http://www.heirloomtomatoes.bizland.com/varieties.htm
Do some research on what tomatoes will suit you and then buy them from a place close to you.

Use some of the seeds you buy to plant in your own garden and swap the rest to get the other vegetables you need. You’ll be able to build up a big bank of seeds doing this and your new seeds will only cost you a stamp and a trip to the post office.

I believe the best seeds to choose are open pollinated types. In the old days all seeds were open pollinated but as a result of pressure to produce standardised fruit and vegetables several decades ago, some seed companies started to hybridise. In effect what they did was to breed vegetables for specific purposes and size. In the case of tomatoes, old-fashioned tomatoes were mainly the big beef steak types, these were no good for supermarkets. They had delicate skin that didn’t travel or store well and when trying to weigh a pound of tomatoes, two tomatoes where often well over a pound. So seed companies developed tomatoes with tougher skin (for transport) that were smaller and generally would weigh up as four to a pound. The problem was that when they were reinventing the tomato wheel, they forget to include the taste factor. When you taste a home grown open pollinated tomato it will taste like tomatoes used to taste like, it’s a hundred times better than a supermarket tomato. Aside from the superior taste, open pollinated vegetables are capable of passing on exactly the same characteristics to each generation. If you use seeds from hybrid vegies, sometimes the seeds will be sterile and sometimes they’ll not grow to type. You might be expecting a medium sized sweet tomato and you’ll get a small bitter one. Hybrid vegies can throw back to any of the types used to create it. So in essence, every year you will need to buy new seeds instead of being able to save the seeds from open pollinated vegies.

Another advantage to growing open pollinated seeds is that they will modify themselves to suit your growing conditions. According to the Seed Savers website: “Food plants, grown organically, that have adapted themselves to your garden over generations of seed saving, will perform noticeably better in your kitchen than generalized hybrid plants, grown by chemical methods far away from your region, and subject to transportation and storage.”

I hope this has convinced you to start off with heirloom or open pollinated seeds. Don’t worry if you go the other road but in the future, when you can afford it or when you want to eat food like your grandma had, go the open pollinated route.

When you start, don’t be over ambitious in your first few years of gardening. There will be a lot to learn and there is a lot work involved in bringing your crops to harvest. Vegetable gardening is not for wimps. Go slow to start and add a couple of new vegies every year until you’ve reach your vegetable growing goal.

If you don’t have any idea about what you want to grow but like the idea of gardening, growing your own food, or living organically, then make a list of the vegetables you enjoy eating. Don’t grow what you won’t eat.

I think the most important piece of information I can give you about gardening is that you feed the soil, not the plant. If you dig a garden plot and plant vegetable seedlings in it, without enriching the soil in any way, you'll get vegetables, but they'll be small and miserly. You must - I repeat, you must build up your soil with organic matter before you start plating. The more organic matter you have in your garden beds, the more abundant your harvests will be.

Yesterday H and I did a fair bit of work in our vegie garden. We pulled out a lot of old vegetables and fed them to the chooks. We're clearing an entire garden bed for potatoes we'll plant when we return from our trip. The next two months is our main planting time so as we plant, I'll take photos and show you what we're doing. So if you want to be ready for Spring, start planning now, start reading Scarecrow's guides, start enriching your soil, and soon we'll start our planting.

H and I ate this entire basket of silverbeet last night for dinner along with carrots, pumpkin, shallots, turnips and kipfler potatoes - all grown in our backyard.

I planted up some more capsicums (peppers) in the aquaponics garden yesterday. The fish are starting to become quite active again and the plants have responded to the current warm weather, so when we come back from our trip, I'll write more about the aquaponics system.

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Bread rolls and muffins

I've just done a bit of baking before I start my sewing. Some bread rolls for lunch and another dozen for the freezer, and a dozen granny smith apple and cinnamon sugar buttermilk muffins. I'll freeze some of these for our train trip next week.

Apple and Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Ingredients:
½ cup butter, very soft
¾ cup sugar
1 beaten egg

Beat these three ingredients together with a wooden spoon.

Add and stir in:
1 cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups diced Granny Smith apples. I dice the apples, then cooked then for about 4 minutes in a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar.

Add and stir in:

1 cup plain flour
¾ cup wholemeal plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Top with this:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teasonspoon sugar

Bake in a moderate oven 20 minutes.

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It's all gardening and sewing today

I thought I knew what was going on in my backyard but I didn't. I didn't really discover the microcosm out there until I stopped rushing through my day and learnt to look with kinder eyes. It's one of the things you'll be rewarded with when you simplify - you'll discover a greater depth in your immediate surroundings.

Oh I knew we had birds visiting, but I wasn't aware of the vast numbers that stop at the pond to rest and drink on their migrations from Papua New Guinea, Asia and Europe - they range from tiny finches to hefty magpie geese. I knew there were snakes but was rewarded one day with the sight of a 12 foot python with the girth of a dog sliding across the grass. Frogs are there too - tiny sedge frogs the size of my little finger nail as well as big rubbery green tree frogs that aways look like they're smiling. There are also echidnas, waters dragons, goannas and the strangest of insects, including an 18 inch long stick insect that looks a bit like a lobster and lives in the tops of local trees. We saw him when he was ill and fell from the tree tops. My kids were teenagers then and called him "the freak". But we cared for the freak until he died, I hope, a comfortable death in a box away from his natural predators.

We'd been living here a few years before we discovered all this wildlife in the backyard. It was waiting for us to slow down, to be content enough to stay home, to sit in the back yard with reading or knitting, or just to look, and then the parade started and hasn't stopped since.

Today I'll be picking some green beans and will be blanching them to freeze along with the carrots and turnips picked yesterday. We are growing a lot of snow peas at the moment but between H and I and Alice, who eat them while we're in the garden, I doubt any of them will see the inside of the house. When we come back from holidays, I'll be picking all the cabbages to make a big crock of sauerkraut. I haven't done it before but I've talked to a German chef who told me a couple of tricks so I think it will be fairly straight forward. While I'm out in the garden this morning, I'll plant up some capsicum (peppers) seedlings and a few zucchini seeds in the aquaponics garden, and there is some borage and lemon balm to plant in the vegie garden. It's been a very cold winter this year and although the vegetable garden coped well, it hasn't produced as much as our previous winter crops. I'm desperate to get some more brandywine tomatoes - they're the best I've ever eaten. I've got a few seedlings still too small to plant in the gravel but I hope to get them in as soon as we return from our trip.

This afternoon will be spent sewing. I want to make a few things to take to Kathleen when we are privileged to be the first guests in her new house. Milestones need to be celebrated and marked with gifts and celebratory meals - it's how we remember those important times and acknowledge the importance of those friends we share them with. Kathleen doesn't sew so I'm making a few things that will make her new home look like her. I have known Kathleen for about 20 years and I feel honoured to be the one who makes these little bits and pieces for her. These simple hand made gifts will express our love and respect for her and when we leave they will be reminders of H and I, and this important milestone.

I thank you all for stopping by today and hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

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In the backyard

I've just been outside talking to H while he waters the fruits trees and the pumpkins. I have high hopes for the pumpkins this year. We're growing them earlier and they should be harvested before the really hot and humid weather is upon us.

Here are a few photos I took while I was out there. This is the back yard just 10 minutes ago. That's Alice there watching the chooks. She gently herds them up if they get too close to the fence or the fruit trees.

This is Rhococobelle, my favourite chook. Doesn't she have the most beautiful feathers.

Finally, a part of the vegetable garden. Here we see a forest of cabbages and cauliflowers, bok choy, potatoes, lots of herbs and lettuce seeding in the distance.

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Lamp skirt

Looks like what ever the problem was with the blog loading is now fixed.

I thought some of you might like some more details on the lamp skirt. I've made a few of these and have always done it the same way but I have seen them gathered at the top with elastic as well. I pleat mine.

Basically all you need to do is measure the circumferance of the lamp shade at the lower/larger end. Find a piece of cotton or linen fabric twice that length and a little wider than the depth of the shade. You need to hem top and bottom, so add another few centimetres for your hems. Making fairly large pleats, pin each pleat in place and when you've got it all done to your liking, sew and iron the skirt. I've gone over the top of mine with some crossgrain ribbon and stitched again. You can put anything, or nothing, along the hems.

The good thing about these little skirts is that you can change them as often as you like, depending on how much fabric you have on hand.

H has been in the garden and just came in with a nice little harvest of carrots and turnips. I think I might blanche these and put them in the freezer for later in the year.

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Decorating on a budget

It's not finished yet but it's looking good enough to show. The walls that we started a few weeks ago, and stopped for visitors and when we got our colds, are finished; we still have to paint the skirting boards, trims and doors. The walls are a lovely pale lemon yellow called Milk Maiden, the doors will be a bluish grey called Smoke Rings.

We had quite a search for fabric for our curtains. I rang all over the Sunshine Coast, went to a remnant place in Brisbane and searched online, but finally my sister found exactly what I wanted at Ikea in Sydney. It's a cherry red and white check pure heavy cotton. I'm recycling the linings on the old curtains I have hanging now and I'll make the curtains when my sister comes to visit soon.

Apart from the paint and fabric I wanted to use what we already had here to change the look we had. I found a few red "things" around the place - an old red Japanese wooden box, some red China from the dinner service I bought in Germany at the end of the 1970s, red felt trims on a lampshade skirt and I'm going to make a few more red fabric decorations that I'll add to the wall with the prints. As you can see, there is a fairly big gap between the top prints and the one below, I'll add a tiny swag of check hearts there. That's the plan, anyway. I might make some red check seat cushions too.

We still have to paint this shelving unit. It will probably be an off blueish white, or if we have any Smoke Rings left over, we'll use that. That's the good thing about decorating your own home, you can do exactly what you want and have no one whispering in your ear that you should go and buy new shelves.

This is an old lamp that has a plain white shade. It was too bland for this new look so I made a little skirt to just fit over the top of the shade. I cut out some red felt flowers shapes and added them. I think it looks quite nice and just shows what you can do with a little creativity and a sewing machine. When I finish the curtains and other little red touches, I'll take another photo to show the finished room. BTW, if you click on the photos they will be bigger.

Is anyone having problems loading my blog this morning? It's very slow for me and I'm not sure if it's my computer or the blog - although other blogs seem to be opening just fine.

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Be bold, live a life you care about

I've decided against finishing my book on simple living. I've had trouble getting a publisher and although I still have the partial manuscript in with two publishers, even if they do want it, I'm not going ahead. I would still have to put in about three months on it and I'm not prepared to do it anymore. I'm having more fun on the blog as I get feedback each day, which I enjoy very much.

I have been using bits and pieces of the book on the blog and will continue to do so. This is part of the introduction, the other part has already been published here when talking about thrift.

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I live a life of contentment in a beautiful part of Australia. I grow some of my own vegetables, I keep a few hens in the backyard, I bake bread and preserve food. I live well with no debt on a low income. My goal is to continue living this way and if I can convince a few others to walk this path less travelled, I’ll be a happy woman.

There was a time when I worked as a technical writer, paid a mortgage and shopped at mainstream supermarkets and department stores. There was no method to my madness and I didn’t know where I was headed. Yet from the time I was around 25 years old I had a buried yearning to live the type of simple life my contemporaries viewed with contempt. In those quiet hours of 4.00 am contemplation, I knew that my future held a new direction where less was more and contentment would fill the sweet air I breathed; but I didn’t know almost 30 years would pass before I started to live that dream. I wish I’d been serious about simplicity long before I turned 50, because this way of life holds appeal for all age groups, and will change the way you view the world.

The most common question I hear regarding simple living is: “How do I start?” Well the answer to that seemingly simple question is not so straight forward. It depends on why you want to change. The end result will be the similar but your focus will be slightly different. Hopefully this book will show you the steps needed to start living simply, whatever your reason.

I also want this book to encourage Australians, young and older, to take charge of their lives by not buying into the materialism trap. I think there has been a major shift in thinking in Australia in the last ten years or so. As a society we are moving closer to a kind of moral and material bankruptcy because we trust self-indulgent, unsustainable promises that tell us living a good life requires the latest product in this year’s “must have” colour. We have to have the biggest and the best and it is fine to go into debt to get it. Those promises are problematic. They require that you mortgage your life, enclose yourself with debt obligations and work non-stop to pay for stress-filled fake living that doesn’t allow you enough time to enjoy what you have. Those promises don’t allow for enjoyment of the natural world, they encourage a consumerist approach to life when what is needed for long-term gratification is a prudent and frugal one.

Your life should be about you, your family and the people you choose to include in your daily activities. What you see portrayed in today’s advertising is a false representation of modern Australian life. It is a glamorised lie to encourage you to spend money on products you don’t need.

Reinvent your life. Think about what is really important to you and develop a set of values that reflect your true beliefs. Respect and nurture your values. Discover what it is you really want your life to be and then make plans to live that life. Define for yourself what are needs and what are wants. Be courageous and change your attitude about what success means to you. Free yourself of the conventional idea of what you should own and want, strip yourself of pretension and in the process you’ll discover your true self.

I want this book to take you on a journey inside yourself to discover your passions, uncover your true potential and to help you be the authentic you. Mindless consumerism masks us all. It surrounds us with junk that turns us into curators of merchandise. Free yourself of all that ties you down, be that debt, clutter, stress, envy, or wanting too much. In a world filled with overindulgence, simplicity will liberate you.

If you’re wondering why you work from dawn till dark just to pay the mortgage and put food on the table, this book is for you. If you just bought more clothes and yet more things to put in your home and still feel a sense of emptiness, this book is for you. If you don’t have enough money to live on, or if you have too much, this book is for you. If you feel trapped by modern living, welcome home.

Many of us may voluntarily choose to live simply but even if it chooses you, the result is similar. You live a life that is marked by less rather than more, you organise your home to nurture and support you and your family members, you help develop a caring and supportive community, you make from scratch much of what you consume, you aim to live debt-free, you respect your environment, minimise waste and you are content with your life choices and the kind of person you are.

Living a simple life is about beating the system and not following the same road everyone else is on. Stop following what your friends and neighbours are doing. They’re probably up to their ears in debt too. Reinvent your life. Be bold, live a life you care about, simplicity can make you soar.

I hope this book will help you discover the essence of simple living and how to apply it to your own circumstances. Please remember that we are diverse nation and have different aspirations. What is right for some is wrong for others. So cherry pick the information here and apply as much as you can to your own life while keeping an open mind about developing new strategies and ways of living that suit you. There is no one size fits all formula when simplifying your life.

To help you simplify I have included information about the practical aspects of day-to-day living. Some readers will already be familiar with some of the activities contained within these pages, others will be novices. There was a time when much of this was common knowledge but our consumer culture has conned us into relying on products to sustain and support us. We’ve forgotten old ways and instead work our entire lives to pay for merchandise that others create for us. The more we have, the more we want, and so the never-ending cycle continues. It wasn’t like that in the past and it doesn’t have to be like that now. We can relearn our collective heritage of basic skills and apply them to our modern lives.

So, what do you really want out of life? If you want more of everything, if you know that you’ll never have enough or be enough, then stop reading this book now and go back to work. But if you want to live an authentic life, if you want to enjoy time with your family, if you want to help save dwindling resources, if you want to become more self-reliant and build your skills, if you want to discover the real you and live the kind of life you dream for yourself, then read on, the simple life is for you. When you know that buying more of everything will not make you happier and that saving resources is better than spending them, then you will really know that less is more. Welcome to your new life.

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So there you have it. Every time I mention "book" above, I now mean "blog" as I'll continue the exploration of my simple life and write about it here in my blog.

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Tigers in the neighbourhood

I'll make two or three posts today (depending on time) as I have some photos here I have been wanting to share with you for a while and I'll talk some more about simple living. The photos first.

H and I went into Brisbane last week to go to a remnants shop looking for our curtain material. For the international readers, Brisbane is the capital city of the state I live in. It's about a one hour drive from my home.

They didn't have what we were after but on the way home I took some photos of this incredible cloud formation. The clouds were in long tubes and although they looked like storm clouds, there was no rain. Luckily I had my camera with me. I took it in case I saw anything of interest that I could share here. It might be something I do more often now, not that I go out much.

So we drove through Brisbane and back onto the freeway and what do we find but Steve Irwin on a sign advertising Australia Zoo.

We were on the freeway for about 40 kms and then turned off onto what used to be called the Glasshouse Mountains Road but is now - Steve Irwin Way.

Driving through pine forests, past an enormous chicken farm with its 1940 long sheds - H was driving too fast to get a good picture of it. Grrrrr. We then came to Mount Tibrogargan, one of the Glasshouse Mountains. The original people who lived on these lands were the Gubbi Gubbi tribe, the Glasshouse Mountains are part of their dreaming. Each of the mountains still has its Koori name - this mountain, Tibrogargan is the father. Here is some more info about the local history of this area: http://au.geocities.com/glasshousebw/ghmtnshist.html

Another mountain is called Beerwah and that is also the name of the town that Australia Zoo is in. We live just down the road from the zoo so I guess you could say we have tigers and elephants as neighbours. Sadly, we no longer have Steve but we still see his sweet family around town every so often.

This is where the zoo is. H was still travelling too fast for me to get a good shot but he said he couldn't slow down as he'd hold up the traffic behind us. Don't they know I have a blog to take photos for! LOL Anyhow, if anyone is interested, I could go back another day and get some better pictures of the zoo.

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A morning of cleaning

Our lounge room, this morning, before cleaning.

In the spirit of practising what I preach, I'm having a big cleanup today. We go away next week and have family staying while we're away so I want everything nice for them. My plan is to deep clean today and spend the rest of the week sewing and knitting. This is my plan:

• Put on a load of washing - floor rugs.
• Put on second load of washing - dogs beds - in outdoor washing machine.
• Clean the ensuite shower and sink.
• Wipe mirror with vinegar and newspaper.
• Scrub toilet, clean seat and lid, wipe over with tea tree.
• Finish off with sweeping the floor and mopping over with hot vinegar water.

• Second bathroom just needs a wipe over with a soapy cloth and dry with a terry cloth.
• Finish off with sweeping the floor and mopping over with hot vinegar water.

• Laundry room needs the sink scrubbed with the creamy soft scrubber.
• Wipe down the benches with soapy cloth, and dry.
• Finish off with sweeping the floor and mopping over with hot vinegar water.

• In the kitchen I'll wipe down the benches and clean the stove with a soapy cloth, and dry.
• Wipe the cupboard doors with my soapy cloth, clean glass in top cupboards with vinegar and newspapers.
• Clean out the fridge.
• Scrub the sink with creamy soft scrubber.
• Wipe down window sill.
• Check pantry and stockpile cupboards.

• Help H put up wall clock and framed prints after painting.
• Wipe over dresser and tidy kitchen table.
• Tidy lounge room, wipe over coffee table.
• Finish off with vacuuming then washing floors with hot vinegar water.

Somewhere along the way I'll make the bed, wash up a couple of times and bake bread. I hope to finish by 1pm and go to the library this afternoon. I'll make dinner when I come home and relax after that leaving me free to do my sewing tomorrow. How sweet it is. : )

“I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home…. I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.”
~Nancie J. Carmody

Washday on the farm

Regarding the stitchery giveaway. I've posted to Shula and have received Leah's address this morning. Thanks Leah. I just need Marianna's address now. Marianna can you please email your postal address to me. Thanks.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who has left a comment or sent email. I have a lot of emails to reply to and will do that either when I finish this post, this afternoon or tomorrow. It's nice getting to know you all through your comments and emails. : )

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Various recipes for green cleaning

HOMEMADE CLEANING RECIPES

LAUNDRY

Laundry Liquid
Makes 10 litres
You may add any essential oil of your choice to these homemade cleaners. Oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender or rose are ideal but are not an essential ingredient. They are not necessary to the recipe but do not detract from the effectiveness by adding them. Use essential oil and not a fragrant oil.

Ingredients
1½ litres water

1 bar Sunlight or generic laundry soap or any similar pure laundry soap, grated on a cheese grater OR 1 cup of Lux flakes

½ cup washing soda – NOT baking or bicarb soda

½ cup borax

Tools

Saucepan
10 litre bucket
Slotted spoon or wooden spoon for mixing
Into a medium sized saucepan add 1½ litres of water and the soap. Over a medium heat, stir this until it is completely dissolved. Make sure the soap dissolves properly or the mixture will separate when cold.

Add the washing soda and borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat.

Pour this mixture into your 9-10 litre bucket then fill the bucket with hot water from the tap. Stir to combine all the ingredients. The laundry liquid will thicken up more as it cools. When cool, store in a plastic container. I use one of those 10 litre flat plastic box containers with a lid. Use ¼ cup of mixture per load or monitor to see what works well for you. I keep a ¼ cup measuring scoop in the box to measure the mixture into the washing machine.

This detergent will not make suds when you wash as it does not contain the chemicals that supermarket detergents add to make suds. You do not need suds to wash your clothes or for the detergent to be effective. The agitation of the washing machine does most of the washing. Additives loosen the dirt and grease. If you use the greywater from your laundry on your garden, leave out the borax.

All these washing aids are suitable for top loaders AND front loaders. I have been using them in my front loader machines for years with no ill effects.

So, lets do a costing on this first recipe of 10 litres of laundry liquid.
These prices are a bit old, I'd say today in Australia it would cost about $2

Lux Flakes - $5.50
Sunlight soap 4 pack - $2.47
Homebrand laundry soap 4 pack - $1.39
Borax 500 grams - $2.55
Washing Soda 750 grams - $1.65
I’ll use the median soap price (Sunlight) for my calculations.
1 bar of Sunlight soap = 61 cents
½ cup borax = 63 cents
½ cup washing soda = 55 cents
Total comes to $1.79 for 10 litres of laundry liquid. The equivalent amount of national brand, TV advertised detergent is currently $4.30 for a litre in a refill pack. So, $4.30 x 10 = $43.00 for the same amount.
And it works too!
There is also a powdered version of this recipe. I like the liquid because you can use it for stain removal too, but the powder is much easier to make up. I am now using the powder for my washing and the I usually have about a litre of the liquid made up for general cleaning.

CONCENTRATED LAUNDRY POWDER - this is the powder I use in my front loader
4 cups grated laundry or homemade soap or soap flakes (Lux)
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid. Use 2 tablespoons per wash. Again, this powder will not make suds and again, this is perfectly okay.

HEAVY DUTY WASHING POWDER
For use on worker’s greasy or dirty overalls, football and sports uniforms or fabric that has food spills.
2 cups grated Napisan soap
2 cups grated laundry or homemade soap
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid. Use two tablespoons per wash. The powder will not make suds.

For a very heavily stained load of washing or tradesperson’s clothes, if you have a top loader turn the machine off when the powder is completely dissolved. In a front loader, operate the machine to dissolve the powder and then stop the machine for an hour to soak the clothes. Leave to soak for an hour, or overnight, and then turn the machine on and continue washing as normal.

NEVER EVER mix ammonia and bleach together. It will form a gas that could kill you.

STAIN REMOVER #1
½ cup ammonia

½ cup homemade laundry liquid

½ cup water

Mix all these ingredients well, and store in marked spray bottle.
Make sure you mark all your bottles so you know what they contain. If you reuse a bottle that previously contained other cleansers, make sure the bottle is completely clean and marked before you fill it with your homemade cleanser.

STAIN REMOVER #2
¼ cup borax or washing soda

2 cups cold water

Sponge on and let dry, or soak the fabric in borax mixture before washing in soap and cold water.

STAIN REMOVER #3
¼ cup hydrogen peroxide
¼ cup water

Mix together and dab onto stain. Leave two hours and repeat if necessary. Good on white clothes.

FABRIC SOFTENER

½ cup white vinegar in final rinse

NAPPY SOAKER and WHITENER (DIAPERS)
Bicarb soda is a good pre-soaker for soiled nappies. Dissolve ¼ cup of bicarb soda in a bucket of warm water, soak for at least an hour or overnight, then wash the nappies in hot water with homemade laundry liquid. Add ½ cup of vinegar to the final rinse and let them dry in the sun.

KITCHEN

ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER #1 - do not use on aluminium
1 tablespoon ammonia

1 tablespoon liquid soap or homemade laundry detergent

2 cups hot water
Combine in a spray bottle. Pour in hot water, screw on the spray bottle top and shake until completely dissolved. This cleaner can be stored in this spray bottle, so mark it “HOMEMADE ALL PURPOSE CLEANER” with a permanent marker.
Spray the cleaner on surfaces you wish to clean. Use your terry cloth to rub on as you go. For hard to move grease or dirt, leave the cleanser on for a few minutes before wiping it off.

ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER #2
½ cup washing soda

2 litres warm water
Mix together and store in a sealed plastic container that is marked with the name.
Can be used as a floor cleaner – tiles, laminate or vinyl or for general cleaning of walls, counter tops or sinks.

SINK CLEANER

Combine equal parts of bicarb soda and course salt to scrub hard to move dirt and grease. This is an abrasive but it will make the sink shine. Finish off with a litre of water in the sink, add a cap full of liquid bleach and remove the plug. You’ll sanitise and clean the pipes at the same time. Wipe with a dry terry cloth.

OVEN CLEANER

¼ cup ammonia

2 cups of warm water

Be careful of the ammonia fumes.

Turn on the oven and leave to heat up for 5 minutes. Pour ammonia and warm water in a baking dish and leave in the warmed oven overnight. This will loosen the grime in the oven, which you can then clean with an ammonia-based cleaner or soap and water. You can also scour with a paste of bicarb soda and water.

CLEANING SILVER

This method works by a chemical reaction of the aluminium, salt and bicarb soda. Put the plug in the kitchen sink. Lay a piece of aluminium foil on the base of the sink and add your silverware. Pour in enough boiling water to cover the silver.
Add one teaspoon of bicarb soda and one teaspoon of salt to the water. Let it sit for about ten minutes. The tarnish will disappear without you touching it.

CREAMY SOFT SCRUBBER

Simply pour about ½ cup of bicarb into a bowl, and add enough liquid soap to make a texture like very thick cream. Scoop the mixture onto a sponge, and start scrubbing. This is the perfect recipe for cleaning the bath and shower because it rinses easily and doesn’t leave grit.
Note: Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin to the mixture and store in a sealed glass jar, to keep the product moist. Otherwise just make as much as you need at a time.

WINDOW CLEANER # 1

¼ - ½ teaspoon liquid or grated soap

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 cups water

spray bottle
Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past.

WINDOW CLEANER # 2

Vinegar and newspapers

Pour a little vinegar onto a sheet of newspaper and wipe windows. Remove all the grime and polish the window with a clean sheet of newspaper.

FURNITURE (WOOD) POLISH

½ teaspoon olive oil

¼ cup vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Mix the ingredients in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wooden surfaces. Seal in the glass jar and store indefinitely.

FLOOR CLEANER – tiles, vinyl or laminate
½ cup white vinegar plus 2 litres hot water in a bucket and a clean mop will clean up all but the worst floor. If you have a really dirty floor to deal with, add a squirt of homemade laundry liquid to this mix.

MOP CLEANING
A clean mop is a necessity when cleaning floors. If you start with a dirty mop you’ll just loosen the dirt on the mop by making it wet again and then spread that on the floor. When you finished your cleaning jobs, rinse the mop out to get rid of the loose dirt then let it soak in the bucket half filled with water and a ¼ cup of bleach. Let the mop soak for 30 minutes, rinse the bleach out and dry the mop in the sun.

WOODEN FLOOR CLEANER - Ammonia will strip floor wax (one cup to a bucket of hot water)
2 tablespoons homemade vegetable soap - grated

½ cup vinegar

500 mls strong black tea

bucket warm water
Combine all the ingredients in the bucket and apply with a cotton mop.

REMOVING CRAYONS FROM A PAINTED WALL

Add a few drops of water to some bicarb and make a thick paste. Wipe over the crayon marks and scrub off with a terry cloth.

HOMEMADE OLIVE OIL AND COCONUT OIL SOAP
This is the recipe for another soap I use. It's a very simple soap that is nourishing and free of harmful additives. It is basically a castile soap with coconut oil added for its good lathering qualities.

Here is the recipe:

800mls of cheap olive oil - the low grade stuff is fine for this.

200mls coconut oil - you can get it from health food stores and Asian supermarkets.

130g caustic soda - from hardware stores or supermarket

400mls rain water

Make the soap up according to the instructions in the soap making tutorial post.

HOMEMADE TOOTHPASTE
¼ cup Olssons cooking salt or any natural sea salt.
¼ cup bicarb soda

Make up ½ cup at a time and store it in a sealed jar. Just sprinkle some of the powder onto your toothbrush and clean your teeth in the normal way. This powder is bitter and takes a little while to get used to but it works well. I don't notice the taste now. You could add a few drops of peppermint essential oil to mask the taste.

HOMEMADE SHAMPOO - I also wash my hair with my homemade soap
This works very well. Say goodbye to all those expense hairdresser shampoos. It’s great for dandruff too.
Dissolve a tablespoon of bicarb soda in a cup of water. If you’ve got children, it might be better doing this in a squirt bottle.
Wet hair thoroughly and apply the mixture to the hair, massaging it in well.
To rinse, just run water through your hair, or you could use a splash of vinegar. The vinegar smell will go when your hair is dry.
You’ll be amazed at how good your hair feels. It will be clean and healthy.
This is an excellent shampoo for long and frizzy hair or short hair.

HOMEMADE DEODORANT

Add some bicarb to a shaker and use that. Dabbing a bit of bicarb under your arms is very effective as long as you wash every day.

HOMEMAKER’S LOG BOOK
It’s a great organisational tool and safety measure to keep a record of all the cleansers you use. If you ever have an accident with the cleansers, you’ll need to tell the doctor what the ingredients are so I recommend you keep your recipes together in a Homemaker’s Log Book. You can also keep food recipes in it as well as printed information you need in your home. I have made a Home Log from a three-ringed binder. That way I can add and remove pages when necessary. There is more about the Homemaker’s Log here.

Most of the ingredients for these recipes will be found in supermarkets in Australia. If you're in another country, I'd really appreciate you letting us know where you find your ingredients. Thank you ladies. : )

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Frugal cleaning

We live in a world where we come in contact with chemicals every day. We have plastic seats in our cars, plastic money, furniture covered with polyurethane, fumes from the paint on the walls and the plastic covering on TVs, DVD players and computers, clothing made from recycled plastic soft drink bottles and plastic wrap. Our pure, fresh, crystal clear drinking water contains chemicals used in the purification process. Even some of our processed food contains suspect chemicals.

Many cleaners available at the supermarket contain a cocktail of synthetic chemicals that when used, leave residue on our skin, bench tops and cooking utensils. If you’re lucky you will get through life with only minor problems caused by this chemical invasion.

I try to add as few synthetic chemicals to my life as I can. This, of course, means taking control of the chemical invasion and making many of the cleaning products I use in my home. I don’t mind doing this, it saves money as they are always much cheaper, and I know what is in the cleansers I’m using. I hope this will help you clean your clothes and your home using homemade cleaners. They are all easy to make, inexpensive and they are tried and true.

Just a word of warning. We are all used to supermarket cleansers working first time, every time. They can do this because of the chemical power punch they deliver. You may have to tweak a homemade recipe to suit your individual needs, you may even look for different recipes. Whatever your initial experience, stick with it for a while because when you use the correct recipe for the job homemade cleaners work well.

All my cleaning recipes work well here, however, hard and soft water, various greases, soil types and other factors play a big part in stain removal and keeping clothes clean. If these recipes don’t work first time, fiddle around with it until you get the right mix for you and your area.

Everything is harmful if not used in the correct manner, even green chemicals. I’ve included a short explanation of the products we talk about. The ingredients are all freely available in any supermarket, but they still need to be treated with caution. If you buy these products, you’ll be able to use them for every cleaning job in your home. Each area does not need its own product. That is something made up by manufacturers and advertising agencies to help sell products. If you know why something works then you can use that knowledge to great effect when cleaning your home, and you’ll save a lot of money by doing it.

Generally your cleansers will be used according to what material you’re cleaning. Wood needs polish to replace wood oils and to keep it from splitting, you’ll need a cleaner for plastic or Laminex surfaces, a scourer for porcelain and stainless steel sinks, a floor and wall cleaner, and laundry powder and stain remover for fabric. If you need an added antibacterial boost, just add a bit of tea tree oil to these basic cleansers.

Get rid of the spray and wipe idea that you apply a specialist product to a problem area, wipe and it’s solved. Good cleaning in a simplified home takes a bit more time making the cleansers but though they are effective, they are less environmentally damaging and far less expensive.

ESTABLISH A CLEAN GREEN ROUTINE IN THE KITCHEN
The answer to many cleaning problems is hot water and soap, sometimes you need to add something else, but often just plain old hot soapy water will work well. My basic cleaning routine in the kitchen is to wipe down the bench tops and stove with hot soapy water and a terry cloth. If there are spills on the enamel stove top, I pour a small amount of hot soapy water onto the spill about 10 minutes before I intend to wipe everything down. This loosens the food spill and it will generally be wiped away with the terry cloth. For stubborn spills or a greasy stove, use some bicarb. Shake a small amount onto the spill with some hot water and leave for 10 minutes. Then wipe it clean with wet terry cloth and dry it with a dry terry cloth.

You don’t buy terry cloth wipes. Make them yourself by recycling your old towels. Terry cloth is full of woven cotton threads that create a rough texture on the cloth. It is this roughness that is useful in cleaning as it picks up dust, grease and dirt without scratching the surface.
For stainless steel surfaces, stoves tops and ovens use two drops of eucalyptus oil in a litre of hot water. Mix well and use your terry cloth to wipe it over all the stainless steel surfaces. Wipe dry with a dry terry cloth. For stubborn food spills, use some of your homemade pure soap on the wet cloth and wipe the spill with that. Finish off with the eucalyptus oil and a dry cloth.

YOUR HOME CLEANING KIT
The laundry is a convenient place to make up your cleansers and to store your big bottles of cleaning ingredients. Make up two small kits – one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. Keep your cleaning equipment close to the area you will clean. For example, keep rubber gloves and a small bucket full of your homemade cleaners under the kitchen sink, keep another kit in your bathroom cupboard. Store these kits under the sinks in those rooms.
Your home cleaning kit will include a small four litre bucket, rubber gloves and whichever of the homemade cleansers you choose for that area.

INGREDIENTS FOR HOMEMADE CLEANERS

• Bicarb
• Washing soda
• Borax
• Pure laundry soap or homemade soap
• White vinegar
• Tea tree oil
• Eucalyptus oil
• Ammonia
• Liquid bleach
  

All these products will cost you less about $30 to buy at the supermarket and you’ll have enough to make the recipes for various cleaning jobs for many weeks.

WHAT’S IN THE CLEANING PRODUCTS YOU’RE ABOUT TO MAKE?

BICARB
This is sodium bicarbonate. It can neutralise acid, so it’s usually not used with vinegar or lemon juice. It can be used in several cleaning applications and it shines metal, porcelain, plastic and glass without scratching it. Mixed into a paste with a little tea tree oil and water, it makes an excellent bathroom cleaner. It absorbs odours so can be used in the fridge as a deodorizer and sprinkled on carpets to freshen them. It can be used as a deodoriser in the refrigerator, on smelly carpets, on upholstery and on vinyl.
Bicarb soda, or baking soda - pH 8.1, is in the same family as washing soda. They are processed differently and washing soda, or sodium carbonate, is much more alkaline with a pH of around 11 Try to find a bulk source of bicarb. I buy a 5kg bag of it for $6 and that lasts me at least a year.

WASHING SODA
Washing soda or sodium carbonate is a natural mineral. It can cut through grease and can be used on engines as well as to remove wax from floors and furniture. It softens hard water and is used in our laundry detergent recipe, along with borax and soap.

BORAX
Borax, or sodium borate, is a naturally occurring mineral. It is an ingredient in the washing liquid and powder we'll talk about tomorrow. It removes stains and boosts the cleaning power of soap or detergent. It is also a disinfectant and can kill ants and cockroaches.

SOAP – this is NOT detergent
All soap is made from fats and lye – even the so called “natural” soaps. The fat used in soap can be either vegetable or animal. Vegetable oil could be olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil or any other vegetable oil. Animal fat is often called tallow and it is from beef, pigs or sheep. Lye is caustic soda but in the process of soap making the caustic soda is neutralised. Detergents are synthetic or man-made materials. Pure laundry soap – like Sunlight and its generic equivalents, or a pure soap you make yourself, are good for removing dirt and grease.

I think the best soap for every purpose is homemade soap because you know exactly what is in it and you can make soap exactly for the purpose you need to use it for. Olive-oil based soap is gentlest on the skin. I've written a post on how to make an olive oil based soap. You can even make an inexpensive cleaning soap that uses cheaper oils than olive oil. You can also make soaps for a specific purpose – like dog soap, gardener’s soap, mechanic’s soap or very mild soap suitable for a baby. An all-purpose liquid soap for hand washing or washing dishes can be made by dissolving the old ends of bar soap, or grated pure soap, in warm water.

VINEGAR
Vinegar is an acidic solution made from fermented juice, grain, or wine. Vinegar can dissolve mineral deposits, grease, remove traces of soap and deodorize. It is a wonderful glass and mirror cleaner as if leaves no streaks. Vinegar is normally diluted in water, but it may be used straight. Buy cheap white vinegar for your cleaning needs. You can usually find this in a large two or five litre container.

TEA TREE OIL
Tea tree essential oil is used as a natural mould and mildew remover. It may also be added to many other homemade preparations as a booster disinfectant or mould inhibitor. Tea tree oil is expensive but make sure you buy the pure oil, not the watered down oil. You’ll only use a few drops so the bottle will last a fair while. Make sure you buy Australian tea tree oil.

EUCALYPTUS OIL
Mixed with water this is excellent for cleaning stainless steel. It’s also the best thing to use to remove glue, stickers or labels. Make sure you buy Australian eucalyptus oil.

SAFETY WARNING
Use the following two products with caution and never, never, never mix them together.

CHLORINE BLEACH
I know this is not green but I use it for certain cleaning jobs like cleaning my mops and removing mould and mildew stains. I use a small amount of bleach when I do use it and I never allow it contact with my skin. If you decide to use bleach, be careful and follow the precautions on the bottle.
AMMONIA
Another non-green, but old fashioned, cleaning aid. You must be careful when using it and never smell the contents of an ammonia bottle; it will lift your head off. When using ammonia, always work in a well ventilated room. NEVER mix ammonia with bleach.

CLEANING EQUIPMENT
The equipment needed for general household cleaning are:

RUBBER OR LATEX GLOVES
These are necessary to avoid contact with any harmful solutions and bacteria.

SMALL BUCKET – 4 LITRES
I use a nice half size bucket of about 4 litres. You can buy these at most supermarkets. You need a handle as you’ll be moving around and it’s easier to move four litres of hot water in a container with a handle. A small enamel or galvanised bucket would also be ideal.

TERRY TOWELLING CLOTHS – WET AND DRY
I use old towels that I cut up into 12 inch squares. Old flannel would also be fine. You need a natural cotton or linen cloth that can be rinsed out between wipes and then washed and dried between uses. Terry towelling works well as it has a soft roughness and lots of looped pile that assist in cleaning. Some people like the microfibre cloths. They do work well but I don’t see the point of buying an expensive cloth that is made of polyester or nylon when a recycled pure cotton cloth will work just as well. We have to get out of the mindset that there is a specialist product for everything. Try to recycle old towels, bath mats, shirts, and sheets. If it’s pure cotton or linen, then it will make a fine cleaning cloth. You can hem the edges if the frayed edges annoy you, but it isn’t necessary.

PLASTIC SHAKER – similar to those used as a salt shaker in fish and chip shops. Put some of your bicarb soda in it. You can shake the powder straight onto the surface and you won’t spoil your bicarb by dabbing your moist cloth into it.

This post is longer than I thought it would be, so tomorrow I'll give you recipes for all sorts of green cleaners, including homemade laundry powder and liquid.

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Love

I can feel love sometimes. It manifests itself in many ways as H and I live together and although I know he loves me all the time, sometimes, I feel it too.

As you know we’ve both been sick with colds or flu, or whatever it is. I get asthma too so I have to be careful as my asthma is always worse when I get any respiratory tract infection. Luckily we’re both pretty healthy and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been sick in the past ten years.

I haven’t been strong enough to do much over the past few days. H made sure I’ve been sitting either on the front verandah, in the lounge room or next to the bedroom window with the sun pouring in. He’s been bringing me glasses of water, cups of tea and soup and cut up pieces of fruit. To me, peeling and cutting someone’s fruit for them is an act of love. It’s been with me since forever and I always associate it with being cared for and nourished.

He’s listening to my breathing too. Just like I did last week when he was sick, and I listened to his. I wonder if he thinks of us aging, like I did, and that we’re getting older now. When I start wheezing at night, he wakes me up with my asthma puffer and while I organise myself with it, he gets some lemon and honey tea, and then we settle back into our warm bed together again. I know he’s been covering me up too. I have a habit of throwing off the quilt, but he keeps retrieving it to make sure I stay warm. I know what he’s doing, but he doesn’t know I know. : )

This love we’ve grown through our marriage is like an old sourdough starter that’s been developing its flavours for years. Those flavours are complex and delicate, yet robust enough to last through time. When I was young I didn’t know that love matured and changed through the years, but it does. As we change, so does the expression of our love. This is unlike the young love of a new marriage, it’s confident, softer and mellowed.

The first thing he asks each morning is “how are you feeling today?” I want to say “I’m feeling love” but I tell him, “I’m ok” instead. It’s a wonderful thing to find someone who will look after you as a mother would and who maintains a loving and patient attitude not only when things are wonderfully bright and positive, but also when they’re not. It’s at those times I have more than the knowledge of love, I feel it too.

Hearts to all of you who drop by today. I hope you feel love in your life too.

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And the winners are ...

Leah, Marianna and Shula. Congratulations ladies. : )

Leah wins Sunnyside Eggs, Marianna wins Good Morning and Shula wins Feeding the Chooks. Leah, Marianna and Shula, would you email your addresses to me please. Thank you.

I have a few more stitcheries to give away so we will have another draw later in the month.

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Frugal travelling

H and I are off on a trip up north soon and as we want it to be a frugal trip, I need to start organising it now. We are taking the tilt train to Townsville. Luckily my sister and son will be staying here to look after the animals and chooks so home is all sorted.

Here is the Tilt Train site:

http://www.traveltrain.com.au/traveltrain_services/Coastal_Services/tilt_train/Overview.asp#

We'll leave at 8pm and I'll pack a Thermos of hot chocolate that we can have while we watch a movie and settle in for the night. We don't have a sleeper so I'm taking two pillows and a patchwork quilt that will fit over both of us. They will all be rolled up and packed into an overnight bag that I'll carry. H will be looking after our other luggage - which is one of those pull-along bags on wheels. At 7am the next morning we'll be at Mackay. Our breakfast will be an apple and cinnamon muffin each, tea and some cut up fruit. I'll prepare all our food just before we leave. We'll each take a bottle of water that can be refilled on the train from the public water dispenser - ie free. LOL!

Okay, so far, so good. Our frugal travel is on target. I'll pack a container of cashews for snacks and a few pieces of fruit, oh, and I intend buying a block of Lindt dark chocolate from the local IGA - it will be $3. That will supplement the cashews and fruit.

We arrive in Townsville at lunchtime so my guess is my sister-friend Kathleen, will have something prepared for that. We're going to visit her so we can see her new home, just built, brand new and still shiny. We have a few friends up there so our activities will involve visiting them, wandering along the famous Strand and maybe having a coffee or a cold drink at one of the cafes on the beach.

Our trip back will start on Sunday afternoon at 2.45pm. We'll have our water bottles full, more hot chocolate and tea, and the rest of the Lindt chocolate and cashews. I'll just buy the makings for some sandwiches, some fruit and get one of the loaves from the neighbourhood organic baker. Those sandwiches and our tea will fill us up for dinner on the train. Our trip ends at 7.30am, so we'll have breakfast with the family when we arrive home.

I think we'll be well and truly satisfied with our little picnics along the way and if it all goes to plan, it will be a very frugal trip, although we will take Kathleen out for dinner the night before we come home.

I've forgotten if I've told you about the prices for our train trip. My ticket was $520 and H's was $24. Actually his was a bit more because the return trip was booked out for pensioners so he had to buy a normal return ticket. All up it cost us around $700 for both of us. And yes, I know we could fly for a fraction of that but flying creates huge amounts of greenhouse gases so it's something we don't do anymore.

We're really looking forward to our trip. We've driven the road up the coast many times but neither of us have travelled it by train. Neither of us have been on the tilt train either, so we're looking at it as a bit of an adventure to enjoy together. We still have to watch what we spend though, so this planing phase is an important part of the trip. It reminds me of the trips I used to take with my parents when I was young - all organised and planned beforehand with little spending along the way.

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Simplicity - a perfect fit

There is something special about people who decide to live simply. They share a determination to step away from the mainstream to pursue a life where they are content with what they have, they reconnect with family and environment, they reduce spending, conserve resources, slow down and live each day with a purpose. They see beyond the crass consumerism that supports much of modern life, to a richer way of being that is sustained primarily by family, friends, happiness and a solid day’s work.

A simple life is a life of deliberate choices. It involves personal responsibility for how you interact with your community and your environment. It allows you to take control of your life and how you live within your neighbourhood. When you live a simplified life you won’t be an indifferent observer; you’ll make deliberate choices about the way you live and you’ll reap the benefit of those life choices.

If you are new to this lifestyle, you will need to take some time to decide just what it is you want your life to be. Simple living comes in many forms and although the basics are the same for almost everyone, the overall structure of simple lives change for each person. That’s one of its benefits too. Your life feels right; it fits you perfectly. You’ll probably be giving up some things that support and comfort you to replace them with more practical requirements. We’ve all been encouraged to nurture ourselves with products like clothes, shoes, furniture and every type of electrical appliance imaginable. This not only causes stress by having to pay for it all and adding more clutter to our homes, but it also stops us having a clear view of ourselves. We become defined by our possessions instead of who we are. Decluttering our minds and our homes is a part of this simple change.

Learning to live a simple life will give you the skills to unburden yourself of unhealthy lifestyle choices. Freeing your mind and slowing down allows you to develop positive patterns to replace negative ones. You will develop a new awareness of who you are and see how your life fits into your family, your community and your place in the world. Instead of doing what you’ve always done because that’s “what most people do”, you will make new decisions to meet your needs and stop living on autopilot. This is what I mean when I say you will live deliberately. You will decide what you want your life to become and make the decisions to make that life happen.

Simple living relies more on people, nature, learning, generosity and an open heart than it does on products and the relentless quest for them. Simplicity allows you to discover a much greater satisfaction in your life than that gained by buying a new car, your twentieth pair of shoes or stocking your specialist wine fridge with vintage wine.

You don’t need to live according to the grandiose dreams of some advertising copywriter or your teenage fantasies. You can pare back your desires and simplify your ambitions, leave the rat race to the rats and dessert ship. I believe that a successful life is one that’s lived with the people you love surrounding you, few financial worries, a clear direction and the ability to gain satisfaction from the work you do - be that a vegetable garden, raising your children, projects in your local community or a paid job.

A simple life is a mixture of being thrifty and working towards living debt-free, saving resources, being content with what you have, slowing down, reinventing yourself by working towards identified goals, rediscovering your family and your environment, cooking from scratch, shopping wisely and less often, looking after what you have and caring about your environment. It is changing how you see your place in the world. Instead of identifying as someone who deserves everything a modern Australian should have, it changes those desires to focus more on family, community, generosity and sustainability.

Living this way is not easy but it beats being in debt and living a self-indulgent life hands down. If you simplify you’ll be encouraged to shed the possessions you’ve worked and paid for that are superfluous to your needs. You’ll do more cooking and less eating out. Initially you’ll work harder because you’ll need to create an organised, less cluttered life and home but you’ll reap the benefits of that organisation. You’ll see the wisdom of shopping wisely and less often and you’ll be encouraged to pay off your debts faster than you would in your old life. But as the months and years roll by, you’ll see the value of those strategies and you’ll look at your non-simplified friends and neighbours and be glad you left that all behind.

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Violets in a tiny vase

It was almost like a spring day today. I hope the worst of winter is over. I'm down with a cold at the moment, it seems I caught the bug H had so I've been taking it easy all day. I took a stroll around the front garden and found the true violets were flowering. These are very special flowers, they are from my mother's garden and the one plants of hers that still lives on in my garden. True violets shouldn't really grow well here, but these do. So I picked a little vase full and brought them inside. It so reminds me of my mother. She used to always have a tiny vase for tiny flowers and it's probably the reason why even now, small things, especially tiny flowers, are among my most favourite things.

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Changes ... again

The readers who have been visiting for a while now will know that I love change, and in fact did promise to change things here from time to time. So here is a change. It didn't do what I wanted but it's close enough. What I was after right-sided blog, with the incidentals on the left, but I also wanted an email that is linked to the email program. I want readers who want to email me to just click. At the moment a lot of people forget to add on the "au" at the end of my email. Can someone help me do it. Is it possible to link the "Email Me" to the email program?

Also, if the blog is too big now, let me know and I'll modify it a bit. I have a large monitor so I'm not sure if it's too wide.

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Moving from two incomes to one

If you've decided to move from two incomes to one so you can stay at home with your baby, you'll enter a period of review. Now would be an excellent time to overhaul your lifestyle and shift from the modern mainstream life to a more simple way of living. Before you are pregnant, and while you're both still working, make up a new budget. Try to live on one wage and use the other to pay off debt. This might be the first time you've really limited your spending and it will be difficult, but when you feel that it's getting too much for you, think about why you're changing your spending habits and how much you'll benefit from it when the baby arrives.

When you're pregnant, decide exactly when you'll stop working so you have a goal in site. If you have any credit card debt, try to pay it off while you still have those two pays coming in. If you only your mortgage to pay off when you stop work, you'll be in the best situation you can be in. If you stop work while you still have credit car debt, or other high interest debt, it might be wise to consolidate those high interest debts into your home loan.

When you stop work use the short amount of time you have before baby arrives to reassess how you shop and make some adjustments to help you save money. Sit down with your partner and make up another new budget. This will be the budget you'll live with for a few years, so think about it carefully. Both of you need to do it together. If you can save money on your grocery bill, you'll save a considerable amount as it will be ongoing saving. Read as much as you can about stockpiling and if you have the cash, invest about $200 - $300 in starting a stockpile. Buy those things that are on sale that you use frequently like toilet rolls, toothpaste, soap, bread, butter, canned goods, meat, flour, rice, pasta etc. And even if you don't add to the stockpile for a month, you'll save yourself going to the supermarket so much with your newborn.

If you have a second car, sell it.

Review your expenses - now is the time to be ruthless with your expenses and cut off all those extra monthly bills:

• Stop dining out and buying takeaway.
• Put expensive family holidays on hold for a few years.
• Stop buying so many gifts. Make up a list of those people you feel you must continue to give to and keep it at that. Start making homemade gifts. You might feel a bit strange at first but most people love receiving something you've made yourself.
• Stop buying magazines. Join the local library for a never-ending supply of books, magazines and DVDs.
• Do you really need a mobile phone? If not, get rid of it.
• Pay TV is a luxury you can say goodbye to until you're in a better financial position.

When baby is born, and if you're Australian, claim all the government benefits you are entitled to. I think the baby bonus is about $4000 now, make sure you claim it, and also look into parenting payments that will be ongoing until your child goes to school. Those readers in countries outside Australia, make sure you know what your government gives you when your baby is born, and after it in the form of family payments.

Remember that you'll only have real success with your new simplified life if you change your attitude to spending. You can't expect to live the way you used to, there are many things you'll give up. But I can assure you that after the initial shock of not having the things that used to take up your spare time and make things easier for you, you'll settle in to a new kind of living that doesn't rely on those things. And once you're used to your new life, I know you'll love it.

If you go back into the archives here, I've written about budgeting, emergency funds and change jars. They'll all help you save for your new lives. Don't be afraid of budgeting - it is the one thing that will organise your thinking about money as well as the money itself. And despite what a lot of people think, a budget frees up your money instead of taking it away. H and I have a tight budget, we do this voluntarily, and even though we live on the very small amount of $355 a week, we still save $150 a month, we still have holidays and we still have private health insurance. It can be done.

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Living on one income

Can a family do it?

There is a common understanding in contemporary Australia that it’s financially wise for both husband and wife to work. While I believe that is true when there are no children in the marriage, I don’t believe that’s necessarily true for all couples with young children. When you add up the actual cost of having both parents in the workforce, when child care costs are in the equation, and often when they are not, it’s often financially sound to have one parent at home. And when I say “parent” I mean either the mother or the father. The partner who can earn the most money, for the least expense and the shortest time away from home, should be the one who goes out to work.

The actual costs of earning a living are those that might be hidden or forgotten about. Some things to consider are whether you will go into a higher tax bracket, day care or babysitting costs, transportation, fuel costs or running a second car, clothing for the new job, equipment needed or tools of the trade, cleaning costs for clothes, grooming in the form of haircuts and cosmetics necessary for your level of work, lunch at work, all those lattes and espressos, magazines to read en route to work and at lunchtime, bottles of water and the added cost of food at home when you start buying convenience and pre-packaged foods. When you calculate all those factors in, many people find that they are working for less than the basic wage.

You should factor in related matters too - those factors that will lessen the impact of one parent not working. When one parent is at home with the children, their job is to look after the day-to-day needs of the children and to save money in the home. When one parent is home they can shop for grocery bargains to make the most of the food budget, food can be cooked from scratch and they can bake bread – this is the healthiest way to cook and it’s also the cheapest. When one parent is at home they can grow vegetables and have chickens for eggs. If there is surplus in the garden they can preserve the excess for eating later in the year - again saving money. Clothes can be sewn and knitted and in general, there will be time to look after the things you already own.

When one parent stays at home with the children, you can read to them, teach them how to write their name, tie a knot, how to count and identify colours. You could teach them to garden, bake cookies and boil eggs and you could show them, by example, what a joy simple living can be. You can be there when they come home from school, or homeschool them, and you can watch them grow to their true potential. Value comes from many things apart from those with a dollar sign attached.

This is one of those decisions you need to make with your partner before have children. It's better to go into your big life changes having already discussed them together and knowing what each other wants. I think the ideal, which is not always possible, is that you both work hard when you first marry to save for the deposit on a home and then to pay off as much as you can on your mortgage. When your babies come along, you can start on this next stage of your life - raising your children within a strong and loving family where both mum and dad have a good balance between family and work.

So if you're thinking about taking on a job sit down and work out if it will really be worth it. For instance, if your new job will pay $500 a week you might pay $150 of that in taxes, making your take home pay $350. You have to get to work so you spend $50 a week on public transport or running the car. Your $350 is now $300. Child care costs $100 a week, so now your income is $200. Take off the amount you need to spend on clothes and grooming, your coffees and lunches and you’ll soon realise that working when you have to pay childcare is sometimes a no-go zone.

As you can see, it's not straight forward and you need to think about what you get from working as well as what you'll give away. There is no doubt that working together to pay off the mortgage is a good thing to do, but your first priority as parents is to your children and you may find there is more value in having one parent be with the children to guide them through childhood. No matter which way you go, when you think about it and talk to your partner and then make your decision, make sure you do everything to make that decision work for your family as a whole. And if you're sure that your decision is the best for your family, work towards your goals together with no guilt and no regrets.

Tomorrow I will continue this theme with - Transitioning to a single income.

As always, I'm interested in your opinions and comments. If you've had experience with this one way or the other, please let me know how you coped.

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All in for the stitchery give away

While I was cleaning up my untidy corner in the bedroom this morning, I found some stitcheries that I think would make a good give-away prize. They all relate to chickens, and they were all drawn and stitched by me on an off-white pure cotton fabric.

Here they are:

They measure about 10 -12 inches by 8 inches and have a border of fabric to allow them to be attached to something - maybe a cushion, a tray cover, a tote bag or a wall hanging. They look a bit wonky but the edges are straight. I had them on an uneven surface for the photos.

So if you would like to be included in the draw for one of these stitcheries, put your name in the comments section, I'll draw the three winners on Sunday and post them out on Monday. Everyone is welcome to enter.

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Catching up

Another Tuesday and another day for catching up on the two days I wasn't here. I have so much I have to do today and as usual, if I write about it here, it makes me more accountable and more likely to get through my tasks.

I'll start in the kitchen as the benches need cleaning. That means moving everything I have on the benches, wiping it all down with a homemade dishcloth dipped in warm soapy water. I'll wipe them all dry with a terry cloth and replace everything. The fridge needs checking, just a quick check to make sure there are no science experiments lurking in the back. After breakfast and the cleaning up of it, I'll start my bread off and get it on the rise. I have to put it outside in the sun with a clean tea towel over it as the kitchen is too cold at the moment to allow a good rise.

Into the bedroom then to strip the bed and wash the bed linen. I'll remake the bed, do a small amount of tidying in an untidy corner, check H's side of the bed for snotty tissues (ack) and open the windows to let in some fresh air. The shower needs a wipe over but I'll do that when I take my shower tonight, but this morning I'll wipe over the sink and mirror. When all that is done, I'll vacuum all the floors and wash the wood floors with some hot water, vinegar and eucalyptus oil.

Hopefully all that is done by 10am when I'll make us some morning tea and sit on the verandah in the sun with H and my knitting. I'm going a bit nuts on the dishcloths at the moment and I want to use up all that cotton yarn I bought recently. Between 11 and 12.30pm I'll be in the garden. The blueberries need some blood and bone and potash as they're just starting to put on new growth. H will be preparing a garden bed for our main potato crop of the year, so I'll "supervise" that project ; ), do some watering and talk to the chooks.

After lunch I want to do some sewing. We are going to visit a good friend in her new house in a couple of weeks time and I want to take her a few house warming gifts. Late this afternoon, just before I start on dinner, I want to pull down the luffah vines that are still standing like skeletons over two trellises. This evening I'll be reading before I fall asleep to prepare for, hopefully, a less strenuous day tomorrow. If I do everything I wrote about above, tomorrow I'll be rewarded with a day where I only have to sweep the verandahs, and make the bed and some bread.

I operate really well when I tell others what I'm about to do. Sorry everyone, I am using you! But if I do that, I feel obliged to do what I said I would do and it's more likely to be done. It's a bit primitive, I know, but I am what I am. : )

I do realise my post is pretty ho-hum today but I have a treat for you all. Visit Duck Herder's blog to read the most sublime post. She is on my must read list now and I'm sure many visitors here will appreciate her writing as much as I do.

As always, I love your visits, your comments and your emails. Thank you for stopping by and if you haven't made contact yet, please do. I'd love to hear from you.

Graphic from http://www.allposters.com/

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